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SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND GROUP PROCESSESSOCIAL INFLUENCE AND GROUP
PROCESSESSOCIAL INFLUENCE AND GROUP PROCESSESSOCIAL INFLUENCE AND
GROUP PROCESSESSOCIAL INFLUENCE AND GROUP PROCESSES
IntroductionNature and Formation of Groups
Groupthink (Box 7.1)Type of Groups
The Minimal Group Paradigm Experiments (Box 7.2)Influence of
Group on Individual Behaviour
Social LoafingGroup Polarisation
Conformity, Compliance, and ObedienceThe Autokinetic Effect (Box
7.3)Group Pressure and Conformity : The Asch Experiment (Box
7.4)
Cooperation and CompetitionSherifs Summer Camp Experiments (Box
7.5)Determinants of Cooperation and Competition
Social IdentityIntergroup Conflict : Nature and CausesConflict
Resolution Strategies
CONTENTS
Key TermsSummaryReview QuestionsProject IdeasWeblinksPedagogical
Hints
After reading this chapter, you would be able to:understand the
nature and types of groups and know how they are formed,examine the
influence of group on individual behaviour,describe the process of
cooperation and competition,reflect on the importance of social
identity, andunderstand the nature of intergroup conflict and
examine conflict resolution strategies.
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Psychology130
NATURE AND FORMATION OF GROUPS
What is a Group?
The preceding introduction illustrates theimportance of groups
in our lives. Onequestion that comes to mind is: How aregroups
(e.g., your family, class, and thegroup with which you play)
different fromother collections of people? For example,people who
have assembled to watch acricket match or your school function
areat one place, but are not interdependenton each other. They do
not have definedroles, status and expectations from eachother. In
the case of your family, class, andthe group with which you play,
youwill realise that there is mutualinterdependence, each member
has roles,there are status differentials, and there areexpectations
from each other. Thus, your
Think about your day-to-day life and the various social
interactions youhave. In the morning, before going to school, you
interact with your familymembers; in school, you discuss topics and
issues with your teachers andclassmates; and after school you phone
up, visit or play with your friends.In each of these instances, you
are part of a group which not only providesyou the needed support
and comfort but also facilitates your growth anddevelopment as an
individual. Have you ever been away to a place whereyou were
without your family, school, and friends? How did you feel? Didyou
feel there was something vital missing in your life? Our lives are
influenced by the nature of group membership we have. Itis,
therefore, important to be part of groups which would influence
uspositively and help us in becoming good citizens. In this
chapter, we shalltry to understand what groups are and how they
influence our behaviour.At this point, it is also important to
acknowledge that not only do othersinfluence us, but we, as
individuals, are also capable of changing othersand the society.
The benefits of cooperation and competition and how theyinfluence
our personal and social lives will also be examined. We will
alsosee how identity develops how we come to know ourselves.
Similarly,we would try to understand why sometimes group conflicts
arise; examinethe perils of group conflict and apprise ourselves of
various conflict resolutionstrategies so that we are able to
contribute towards making a harmoniousand cohesive society.
Introduction
family, class and playgroup are examplesof groups and are
different from othercollections of people.
A group may be defined as an organisedsystem of two or more
individuals, who areinteracting and interdependent, who havecommon
motives, have a set of rolerelationships among its members, and
havenorms that regulate the behaviour of itsmembers. Groups have
the following salientcharacteristics : A social unit consisting of
two or more
individuals who perceive themselvesas belonging to the group.
Thischaracteristic of the group helps indistinguishing one group
from theother and gives the group its uniqueidentity.
A collection of individuals who havecommon motives and goals.
Groups
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 131
function either working towards a givengoal, or away from
certain threatsfacing the group.
A collection of individuals who areinterdependent, i.e. what one
is doingmay have consequences for others.Suppose one of the
fielders in a cricketteam drops an important catch duringa match
this will have consequencefor the entire team.
Individuals who are trying to satisfy aneed through their joint
associationalso influence each other.
A gathering of individuals who interactwith one another either
directly orindirectly.
A collection of individuals whoseinteractions are structured by
a set ofroles and norms. This means that thegroup members perform
the samefunctions every time the group meetsand the group members
adhere togroup norms. Norms tell us how weought to behave in the
group andspecify the behaviours expected fromgroup members.Groups
can be differentiated from other
collections of people. For example, a crowd
is also a collection of people who may bepresent at a
place/situation by chance.Suppose you are going on the road and
anaccident takes place. Soon a large numberof people tend to
collect. This is an exampleof a crowd. There is neither any
structurenor feeling of belongingness in a crowd.Behaviour of
people in crowds is irrationaland there is no interdependence
amongmembers.
Teams are special kinds of groups.Members of teams often have
comple-mentary skills and are committed to acommon goal or purpose.
Members aremutually accountable for their activities. Inteams,
there is a positive synergy attainedthrough the coordinated efforts
of themembers. The main differences betweengroups and teams are: In
groups, performance is dependent
on contributions of individualmembers. In teams, both
individualcontributions and teamwork matter.
In groups, the leader or whoever isheading the group holds
responsibilityfor the work. However in teams,although there is a
leader, membershold themselves responsible.
Fig.7.1 : Look at these Two PicturesPicture A shows a football
team a group in which members interact with one another, have roles
andgoals. Picture B depicts an audience watching the football match
a mere collection of people who bysome coincidence (may be their
interest in football) happened to be in the same place at the same
time.
Picture A Picture B
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Psychology132
An audience is also a collection ofpeople who have assembled for
a specialpurpose, may be to watch a cricket matchor a movie.
Audiences are generally passivebut sometimes they go into a frenzy
andbecome mobs. In mobs, there is a definitesense of purpose. There
is polarisation inattention, and actions of persons are in acommon
direction. Mob behaviour ischaracterised by homogeneity of
thoughtand behaviour as well as impulsivity.
Why Do People Join Groups?
All of you are members of your family,class and groups with
which you interactor play. Similarly, other people are alsomembers
of a number of groups at anygiven time. Dif ferent groups
satisfydifferent needs, and therefore, we aresimultaneously members
of differentgroups. This sometimes creates pressuresfor us because
there may be competingdemands and expectations. Most often weare
able to handle these competingdemands and expectations. People
joingroups because these groups satisfy arange of needs. In
general, people joingroups for the following reasons : Security :
When we are alone, we feel
insecure. Groups reduce thisinsecurity. Being with people gives
asense of comfort, and protection. As aresult, people feel
stronger, and are lessvulnerable to threats.
Status : When we are members of agroup that is perceived to be
importantby others, we feel recognised andexperience a sense of
power. Supposeyour school wins in an inter -institutional debate
competition, youfeel proud and think that you are betterthan
others.
Self-esteem : Groups provide feelings ofself-worth and establish
a positive socialidentity. Being a member of prestigiousgroups
enhances ones self-concept.
Satisfaction of ones psychologicaland social needs : Groups
satisfy onessocial and psychological needs such assense of
belongingness, giving andreceiving attention, love, and
powerthrough a group.
Goal achievement : Groups help inachieving such goals which
cannot beattained individually. There is power inthe majority.
Provide knowledge and information :Group membership provides
knowledgeand information and thus broadens ourview. As individuals,
we may not haveall the required information. Groupssupplement this
information andknowledge.
Group Formation
In this section, we will see how groups areformed. Basic to
group formation is somecontact and some form of interactionbetween
people. This interaction isfacilitated by the following conditions:
Proximity : Just think about your
group of friends. Would you have beenfriends if you were not
living in thesame colony, or going to the sameschool, or may be
playing in the sameplayground? Probably your answerwould be No.
Repeated interactionswith the same set of individuals give usa
chance to know them, and theirinterests and attitudes.
Commoninterests, attitudes, and backgroundare important
determinants of yourliking for your group members.
Similarity : Being exposed to someoneover a period of time makes
us assessour similarities and paves the way forformation of groups.
Why do we likepeople who are similar? Psychologistshave given
several explanations for this.One explanation is that people
preferconsistency and like relationships thatare consistent. When
two people are
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 133
similar, there is consistency and theystart liking each other.
For example,you like playing football and anotherperson in your
class also loves playingfootball; there is a matching of
yourinterests. There are higher chances thatyou may become friends.
Anotherexplanation given by psychologists isthat when we meet
similar people, theyreinforce and validate our opinions andvalues,
we feel we are right and thus westart liking them. Suppose you are
ofthe opinion that too much watching oftelevision is not good,
because it showstoo much violence. You meet someonewho also has
similar views. Thisvalidates your opinion, and you startliking the
person who was instrumentalin validating your opinion.
Common motives and goals : Whenpeople have common motives or
goals,they get together and form a groupwhich may facilitate their
goalattainment. Suppose you want to teachchildren in a slum area
who are unableto go to school. You cannot do thisalone because you
have your ownstudies and homework. You, therefore,form a group of
like-minded friends andstart teaching these children. So youhave
been able to achieve what youcould not have done alone.
Stages of Group Formation
Remember that, like everything else in life,groups develop. You
do not become agroup member the moment you cometogether. Groups
usually go throughdifferent stages of formation,
conflict,stabilisation, performance, and dismissal.Tuckman
suggested that groups passthrough five developmental
sequences.These are: forming, storming, norming,performing and
adjourning. When group members first meet, there
is a great deal of uncertainty about the
group, the goal, and how it is to beachieved. People try to know
each otherand assess whether they will fit in.There is excitement
as well asapprehensions. This stage is called theforming stage.
Often, after this stage, there is a stageof intragroup conflict
which is referredto as storming. In this stage, there isconflict
among members about how thetarget of the group is to be
achieved,who is to control the group and itsresources, and who is
to perform whattask. When this stage is complete, somesort of
hierarchy of leadership in thegroup develops and a clear vision as
tohow to achieve the group goal.
The storming stage is followed byanother stage known as
norming.Group members by this time developnorms related to group
behaviour. Thisleads to development of a positive
groupidentity.
The fourth stage is performing. By thistime, the structure of
the group hasevolved and is accepted by groupmembers. The group
moves towardsachieving the group goal. For somegroups, this may be
the last stage ofgroup development.
However, for some groups, for example,in the case of an
organising committee
Activity7.1
Identifying Stages of GroupFormation
Select 10 members from your classrandomly and form a committee
toplan an open house. See how they goahead. Give them full autonomy
to doall the planning. Other members of theclass observe them as
they function.
Do you see any of these stagesemerging? Which were those?
Whatwas the order of stages? Which stageswere skipped?
Discuss in the class.
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Psychology134
for a school function, there may beanother stage known as
adjourningstage. In this stage, once the functionis over, the group
may be disbanded.
However, it must be stated that allgroups do not always proceed
from onestage to the next in such a systematicmanner. Sometimes
several stages go onsimultaneously, while in other instancesgroups
may go back and forth through thevarious stages or they may just
skip someof the stages.
During the process of group formation,groups also develop a
structure. We shouldremember that group structure developsas
members interact. Over time thisinteraction shows regularities
indistribution of task to be performed,responsibilities assigned to
members, andthe prestige or relative status of members.
Four important elements of groupstructure are : Roles are
socially defined expectations
that individuals in a given situation areexpected to fulfil.
Roles refer to thetypical behaviour that depicts a personin a given
social context. You have therole of a son or a daughter and with
thisrole, there are certain role expectations,i.e. including the
behaviour expected ofsomeone in a particular role. As adaughter or
a son, you are expected torespect elders, listen to them, and
beresponsible towards your studies.
Norms are expected standards ofbehaviour and beliefs
established,agreed upon, and enforced by groupmembers. They may be
considered asa groups unspoken rules. In yourfamily, there are
norms that guide thebehaviour of family members. These
Box7.1 Groupthink
Generally teamwork in groups leads to beneficial results.
However, Irving Janis has suggestedthat cohesion can interfere with
effective leadership and can lead to disastrous decisions.Janis
discovered a process known as groupthink in which a group allows
its concerns forunanimity. They, in fact, override the motivation
to realistically appraise courses of action.It results in the
tendency of decision makers to make irrational and uncritical
decisions.Groupthink is characterised by the appearance of
consensus or unanimous agreementwithin a group. Each member
believes that all members agree upon a particular decisionor a
policy. No one expresses dissenting opinion because each person
believes it wouldundermine the cohesion of the group and s/he would
be unpopular. Studies have shownthat such a group has an
exaggerated sense of its own power to control events, and tendsto
ignore or minimise cues from the real world that suggest danger to
its plan. In order topreserve the groups internal harmony and
collective well-being, it becomes increasinglyout-of-touch with
reality. Groupthink is likely to occur in socially homogenous,
cohesivegroups that are isolated from outsiders, that have no
tradition of considering alternatives,and that face a decision with
high costs or failures. Examples of several group decisions atthe
international level can be cited as illustrations of groupthink
phenomenon. Thesedecisions turned out to be major fiascos. The
Vietnam War is an example. From 1964 to1967, President Lyndon
Johnson and his advisors in the U.S. escalated the Vietnam
Warthinking that this would bring North Vietnam to the peace table.
The escalation decisionswere made despite warnings. The grossly
miscalculated move resulted in the loss of 56,000American and more
than one million Vietnamese lives and created huge budget
deficits.Some ways to counteract or prevent groupthink are: (i)
encouraging and rewarding criticalthinking and even disagreement
among group members, (ii) encouraging groups to presentalternative
courses of action, (iii) inviting outside experts to evaluate the
groups decisions,and (iv) encouraging members to seek feedback from
trusted others.
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 135
norms represent shared ways ofviewing the world.
Status refers to the relative socialposition given to group
members byothers. This relative position or statusmay be either
ascribed (given may bebecause of ones seniority) or achieved(the
person has achieved statusbecause of expertise or hard work).
Bybeing members of the group, we enjoythe status associated with
that group.All of us, therefore, strive to bemembers of such groups
which arehigh in status or are viewed favourablyby others. Even
within a group,dif ferent members have dif ferentprestige and
status. For example, thecaptain of a cricket team has a
higherstatus compared to the other members,although all are equally
important forthe teams success.
Cohesiveness refers to togetherness,binding, or mutual
attraction amonggroup members. As the group becomesmore cohesive,
group members start tothink, feel and act as a social unit, andless
like isolated individuals. Membersof a highly cohesive group have
agreater desire to remain in the group incomparison to those who
belong to lowcohesive groups. Cohesiveness refers tothe team spirit
or we feeling or a senseof belongingness to the group. It
isdifficult to leave a cohesive group or togain membership of a
group which ishighly cohesive. Extreme cohesivenesshowever, may
sometimes not be in agroups interest. Psychologists haveidentified
the phenomenon ofgroupthink (see Box 7.1) which is aconsequence of
extreme cohesiveness.
TYPE OF GROUPS
Groups differ in many respects; some havea large number of
members (e.g., acountry), some are small (e.g., a family),
some are short-lived (e.g., a committee),some remain together
for many years (e.g.,religious groups), some are highlyorganised
(e.g., army, police, etc.), andothers are informally organised
(e.g.,spectators of a match). People may belongto different types
of group. Major types ofgroups are enumerated below : primary and
secondary groups formal and informal groups ingroup and
outgroup.
Primary and Secondary Groups
A major difference between primary andsecondary groups is that
primary groupsare pre-existing formations which areusually given to
the individual whereassecondary groups are those which
theindividual joins by choice. Thus, family,caste, and religion are
primary groupswhereas membership of a political party isan example
of a secondary group. In aprimary group, there is a
face-to-faceinteraction, members have close physicalproximity, and
they share warm emotionalbonds. Primary groups are central
toindividuals functioning and have a verymajor role in developing
values and idealsof the individual during the early stages
ofdevelopment. In contrast, secondarygroups are those where
relationshipsamong members are more impersonal,indirect, and less
frequent. In the primarygroup, boundaries are less permeable,
i.e.members do not have the option to chooseits membership as
compared to secondarygroups where it is easy to leave and
joinanother group.
Formal and Informal Groups
These groups differ in the degree to whichthe functions of the
group are statedexplicitly and formally. The functions of aformal
group are explicitly stated as in thecase of an office
organisation. The roles tobe performed by group members are
stated
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Psychology136
in an explicit manner. The formal andinformal groups differ on
the basis ofstructure. The formation of formal groupsis based on
some specific rules or laws andmembers have definite roles. There
are aset of norms which help in establishingorder. A university is
an example of aformal group. On the other hand, theformation of
informal groups is not basedon rules or laws and there is
closerelationship among members.
Ingroup and Outgroup
Just as individuals compare themselveswith others in terms of
similarities anddifferences with respect to what they haveand what
others have, individuals alsocompare the group they belong to
withgroups of which they are not a member.The term ingroup refers
to ones owngroup, and outgroup refers to anothergroup. For ingroup
members, we use theword we while for outgroup members, theword they
is used. By using the wordsthey and we, one is categorising people
assimilar or different. It has been found thatpersons in the
ingroup are generallysupposed to be similar, are viewedfavourably,
and have desirable traits.Members of the outgroup are viewed
differently and are often perceived negativelyin comparison to
the ingroup members.Perceptions of ingroup and outgroup affectour
social lives. These differences can beeasily understood by studying
Tajfelsexperiments given in Box 7.2.
Although it is common to make thesecategorisations, it should be
appreciatedthat these categories are not real and arecreated by us.
In some cultures, pluralityis celebrated as has been the case in
India.We have a unique composite culture whichis reflected not only
in the lives we live, butalso in our art, architecture, and
music.
Box7.2 The Minimal Group Paradigm Experiments
Tajfel and his colleagues were interested in knowing the minimal
conditions for intergroupbehaviour. Minimal group paradigm was
developed to answer this question. British school-boys expressed
their preference for paintings by two artists Vassily Kandinsky and
PaulKlee. Children were told that it was an experiment on
decision-making. They knew thegroups in which they were grouped
(Kandinsky group and Klee group). The identity of othergroup
members was hidden using code numbers. The children then
distributed moneybetween recipients only by code number and group
membership.
Sample distribution matrix :Ingroup member 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19Outgroup member 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25
You will agree that these groups were created on a flimsy
criterion (i.e. preference forpaintings by two artists) which had
no past history or future. Yet, results showed thatchildren
favoured their own group.
Activity7.2
Ingroup and OutgroupDistinctions
Think of any interinstitutionalcompetition held in the near
past. Askyour friends to write a paragraphabout your school and its
students,and about another school andstudents of that school. Ask
the classand list the behaviour andcharacteristics of your
schoolmates,and students of the other school onthe board. Observe
the differencesand discuss in the class. Do you alsosee
similarities? If yes, discuss themtoo.
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 137
INFLUENCE OF GROUP ON INDIVIDUALBEHAVIOUR
We have seen that groups are powerful asthey are able to
influence the behaviour ofindividuals. What is the nature of
thisinfluence? What impact does the presenceof others have on our
performance? We willdiscuss two situations : (i) an
individualperforming an activity alone in thepresence of others
(social facilitation),and (ii) an individual performing an
activityalong with the others as part of a largergroup (social
loafing). Since socialfacilitation has been briefly discussed
inChapter 6, we would try to understand thephenomenon of social
loafing in thissection.
Social Loafing
Social facilitation research suggests thatpresence of others
leads to arousal and canmotivate individuals to enhance
theirperformance if they are already good atsolving something. This
enhancementoccurs when a persons ef forts areindividually
evaluated. What would happenif efforts of an individual in a group
arepooled so that you look at the performanceof the group as a
whole? Do you knowwhat often happens? It has been foundthat
individuals work less hard in a groupthan they do when performing
alone. Thispoints to a phenomenon referred to associal loafing.
Social loafing is a reductionin individual effort when working on
acollective task, i.e. one in which outputsare pooled with those of
other groupmembers. An example of such a task is thegame of
tug-of-war. It is not possible foryou to identify how much force
eachmember of the team has been exerting.Such situations give
opportunities to groupmembers to relax and become a free rider.This
phenomenon has been demonstratedin many experiments by Latane and
his
associates who asked group of malestudents to clap or cheer as
loudly aspossible as they (experimenters) wereinterested in knowing
how much noisepeople make in social settings. They variedthe group
size; individuals were eitheralone, or in groups of two, four and
six.The results of the study showed thatalthough the total amount
of noise rose up,as size increased, the amount of noiseproduced by
each participant dropped. Inother words, each participant put in
lesseffort as the group size increased. Whydoes social loafing
occur? The explanationsoffered are: Group members feel less
responsible for
the overall task being performed andtherefore exert less
effort.
Motivation of members decreasesbecause they realise that
theircontributions will not be evaluated onindividual basis.
The performance of the group is not tobe compared with other
groups.
There is an improper coordination (orno coordination) among
members.
Belonging to the same group is notimportant for members. It is
only anaggregate 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 tosuccessful task
performance).
Increasing the apparent importance orvalue of a task.
Making people feel that their individualcontribution is
important.
Strengthening group cohesivenesswhich increases the motivation
forsuccessful group outcome.
Group Polarisation
We all know that important decisions aretaken by groups and not
by individuals
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Psychology138
alone. For example, a decision is to betaken whether a school
has to beestablished in a village. Such a decisionhas to be a group
decision. We have alsoseen that when groups take decisions,there is
a fear that the phenomenon ofgroupthink may sometimes occur (seeBox
7.1). Groups show another tendencyreferred to as group
polarisation. It hasbeen found that groups are more likely totake
extreme decisions than individualsalone. Suppose there is an
employee whohas been caught taking bribe or engagingin some other
unethical act. Her/hiscolleagues are asked to decide on
whatpunishment s/he should be given. Theymay let her/him go
scot-free or decide toterminate her/his services instead ofimposing
a punishment which may becommensurate with the unethical act
s/hehad engaged in. Whatever the initialposition in the group, this
position becomesmuch stronger as a result of discussions inthe
group. This strengthening of the groupsinitial position as a result
of groupinteraction and discussion is referred to asgroup
polarisation. This may sometimeshave dangerous repercussions as
groupsmay take extreme positions, i.e. from veryweak to very strong
decisions.
Why does group polarisation occur? Letus take an example whether
capitalpunishment should be there. Suppose youfavour capital
punishment for heinouscrimes, what would happen if you
wereinteracting with and discussing this issuewith like-minded
people? After thisinteraction, your views may becomestronger. This
firm conviction is because ofthe following three reasons: In the
company of like-minded people,
you are likely to hear newer argumentsfavouring your viewpoints.
This willmake you more favourable towardscapital punishment.
When you find others also favouringcapital punishment, you feel
that this
view is validated by the public. This isa sort of bandwagon
effect.
When you find people having similarviews, you are likely to
perceive themas ingroup. You start identifying withthe group, begin
showing conformity,and as a consequence your viewsbecome
strengthened.
Activity7.3
Assessing Polarisation
Give the class a short, 5-item attitudescale developed by your
teacher toassess attitudes towards capitalpunishment. Based on
their responses,divide the class into two groups, i.e.those
pro-capital punishment andthose anti-capital punishment. Nowseat
these groups into two differentrooms and ask them to discuss a
recentcase in which death sentence has beengiven by the court. See
how thediscussion proceeds in the two groups.After the discussion,
re-administer theattitude scale to the group members.Examine if, in
both groups, positionshave hardened in comparison to theirinitial
position as a result of groupdiscussion.
CONFORMITY, COMPLIANCE, ANDOBEDIENCE
Groups and individuals exert influence onus. This influence may
force us to changeour behaviours in a particular direction.The term
social influence refers to thoseprocesses whereby our attitudes
andbehaviours are influenced by the real orimagined presence of
other people.Throughout the day you may encounter anumber of
situations where others havetried to influence you and make you
thinkin ways they want. Your parents, teachers,friends, radio and
television commercialscreate one or the other kind of
socialinfluence. Social influence is a part of ourlife. In some
situations, social influence on
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 139
us is very strong as a result of which wetend to do things which
we otherwisewould have not done. On other occasions,we are able to
defy influence of others andmay even influence them to adopt our
ownviewpoint. This section describes threeimportant group influence
processes, i.e.conformity, compliance and obedience.
Imagine the following situation in yourschool. Some of your
friends come to youwith a letter of protest against a rule thathas
been recently announced, i.e. banninguse of mobile phones in the
school.Personally you believe that the rule is verysensible and
should be enforced. But youalso know that if you do not sign the
letter,you will lose many friends and get a badname for not keeping
student unity. Whatwould you do in such a situation? Whatdo you
think most people of your agewould do? If your answer is that you
wouldagree to sign the letter, you have expresseda form of social
influence calledconformity which means behavingaccording to the
group norm, i.e. theexpectations of other group members.Persons who
do not conform (calleddeviants or non-conformists) get noticedmore
than those who do conform.
Kelman distinguished three forms ofsocial influence, viz.
compliance,identification, and internalisation. Incompliance, there
are external conditionsthat force the individual to accept
theinfluence of the significant other.Compliance also refers to
behaving in aparticular way in response to a requestmade by
someone. Thus, in the exampledescribed above, you may sign the
letterwith the thought that you were acceptingthe request, not
because you agree withother students, but because you have
beenrequested to do so by a significant member.This would be a case
of compliance alsocalled external/public conformity.Compliance
could take place even without
a norm. For example, a member of acommunity group for clean
environmentrequests you to put a sticker on your bikethat reads,
Say No to Plastic Bags. Youagree to do so, not because of a
groupnorm, or even because you personallybelieve in banning plastic
bags, but becauseyou see no harm or problem in putting sucha
sticker on your bike. At the same time,you find it easier to say
yes rather than noto such a harmless (and eventuallymeaningful)
request. Identification,according to Kelman, refers to
influenceprocess based on agreement-seeking oridentity-seeking.
Internalisation, on theother hand, is a process based
oninformation-seeking.
Yet another form of behaviour isobedience. A distinguishing
feature ofobedience is that such behaviour is aresponse to a person
in authority. In theexample given above, you may sign theletter
more readily if a senior teacher or astudent leader asks you to do
so. In sucha situation, you are not necessarilyfollowing a group
norm but rather carryingout an instruction or an order. The
presenceof an authority figure immediately makesthis behaviour
different from conformity.For instance, you may stop talking
loudlyin the classroom when the teacher asks youto keep quiet, but
not when your classmatetells you to do the same thing.
We can see that there are somesimilarities between
conformity,compliance, and obedience, but there arealso some
differences. All three indicate theinfluence of others on an
individualsbehaviour. Obedience is the most directand explicit form
of social influence,whereas compliance is less direct thanobedience
because someone has requestedand thus you comply (here, the
probabilityof refusal is there). Conformity is the mostindirect
form (you are conforming becauseyou do not want to deviate from the
norm).
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Psychology140
Conformity
Why do people follow group norms, whenthe only punishment they
may face if theydo not, is the displeasure of the group, orbeing
perceived as different? Why dopeople conform even when they know
thatthe norm itself is not desirable?
It seems that the tendency to follow anorm is natural, and does
not need anyspecial explanation. Yet, we need tounderstand why such
a tendency appearsto be natural or spontaneous. First,norms
represent a set of unwritten andinformal rules of behaviour that
provideinformation to members of a group aboutwhat is expected of
them in specificsituations. This makes the whole situationclearer,
and allows both the individual andthe group to function more
smoothly.Second, in general, people feel un-comfortable if they are
considereddifferent from others. Behaving in a waythat differs from
the expected form ofbehaviour may lead to disapproval ordislike by
others, which is a form of socialpunishment. This is something that
mostpeople fear, often in an imagined way.Recall the question we
ask so often: Whatwill people (then) say? Following thenorm is,
thus, the simplest way of avoiding
disapproval and obtaining approval fromothers. Third, the norm
is seen asreflecting the views and beliefs of themajority. Most
people believe that themajority is more likely to be right
ratherthan wrong. An instance of this is oftenobserved in quiz
shows on television. Whena contestant is at a loss for the
correctanswer to a question, s/he may opt for anaudience opinion,
the person most oftentends to choose the same option that
themajority of the audience chooses. By thesame reasoning, people
conform to thenorm because they believe that themajority must be
right. The pioneering experiments onconformity were carried out by
Sherif andAsch. They illustrate some of theconditions that
determine the extent ofconformity, and also methods that may
beadopted for the study of conformity ingroups. These experiments
demonstratewhat Sherif called the autokineticeffect (Box 7.3) and
the Asch technique(Box 7.4). What lessons are to be learned fromthe
results of these experiments onconformity? The main lesson is that
thedegree of conformity among the groupmembers is determined by
many factorswhich are situation-specific.
Box7.3 The Autokinetic Effect
Sherif conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate how
groups form their norms,and members make their judgments according
to these norms.
Participants were seated in a darkroom, and asked to concentrate
on a point of light.After watching this point of light, each person
was asked to estimate the distance throughwhich the point had
moved. This kind of judgment had to be made over a number of
trials.After each trial, the group was given information about the
average distance judged by themembers. It was observed that on
subsequent trials, subjects modified their judgments ina way that
made them more similar to the group average. The interesting aspect
of thisexperiment was that the point of light actually did not move
at all. The light was only seenas moving by the participant
(therefore, the effect has been called the autokinetic effect).Yet
in response to instructions from the experimenter, the participants
not only judged thedistance the light moved, but also created a
norm for this distance. Note that the participantswere not given
any information regarding the nature of change, if any, in their
judgmentsover trials.
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 141
Determinants of Conformity
(i) Size of the group : Conformity isgreater when the group is
small than whenthe group is large. Why does it happen? Itis easier
for a deviant member (one whodoes not conform) to be noticed in a
smallgroup. However, in a large group, if thereis strong agreement
among most of themembers, this makes the majoritystronger, and
therefore, the norm is alsostronger. In such a case, the
minoritymember(s) would be more likely to conformbecause the group
pressure would bestronger.
(ii) Size of the minority : Take the caseof the Asch experiment
(see Box 7.4).
Suppose the subject finds that after somerounds of judgment of
the lines, there isanother participant who starts agreeingwith the
subjects answer. Would thesubject now be more likely to conform,
orless likely to do so? When the dissentingor deviating minority
size increases, thelikelihood of conformity decreases. In fact,it
may increase the number of dissentersor non-conformists in the
group.
(iii) Nature of the task : In Aschsexperiment, the task required
an answerthat could be verified, and could be corrector incorrect.
Suppose the task involvesgiving an opinion about some topic. Insuch
a case, there is no correct or incorrect
Box7.4Group Pressure and Conformity : The Asch Experiment
Asch examined how much conformity there would be when one member
of a groupexperiences pressure from the rest of the group to behave
in a specific way, or to give aparticular judgment. A group of
seven persons participated in an experiment that was avision test.
There was actually only one true subject. The other six
participants wereassociates of the experimenter, or confederates as
they are called in social psychology.These confederates were given
instructions to give specific responses. Of course, this wasnot
known to the true subject. All participants were shown a vertical
line (standard line)that had to be compared with three vertical
lines of different lengths, A, B, and C (comparisonlines).
Participants had to state which of the comparison lines, A, B, or
C, was equal to thestandard line.
Standard Line Comparison Lines
A B C
When the experiment began, each participant, by turn, announced
her/his answer.The first five persons gave wrong answers (as they
had been instructed to do so). The truesubjects turn came
last-but-one in each round. So the true subject had the experience
of5 persons giving incorrect answers before her/him. The last
person (also a confederate)gave the same incorrect answer as the
first five persons. Even if the true subject felt thatthese answers
were incorrect, a norm had been presented to her/him. There were
twelvetrials. Did the true subject conform to the majority answer,
or did s/he give her/his ownjudgments ?
It was observed that 67 per cent subjects showed conformity, and
gave the same incorrectanswer as the majority. Remember that this
was a situation in which the answers were tobe given publicly.
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Psychology142
answer. In which situation is there likelyto be more conformity,
the first one wherethere is something like a correct or anincorrect
answer, or the second one whereanswers can vary widely without
anyanswer being correct or incorrect? You mayhave guessed right;
conformity would beless likely in the second situation.
(iv) Public or private expression ofbehaviour : In the Asch
technique, thegroup members are asked to give theiranswers
publicly, i.e. all members knowwho has given which response.
However,there can be other situations (for example,voting by secret
ballot) in which thebehaviour of members is private (notknown to
others). Less conformity is foundunder private expression than it
is seenunder public expression.
(v) Personality : The conditions describedabove show how the
features of thesituation are important in determining thedegree of
conformity shown. We also findthat some individuals have a
conformingpersonality. Such persons have a tendencyto change their
behaviour according towhat others say or do in most situations.By
contrast, there are individuals who areindependent, and do not look
for a normin order to decide how to behave in aspecific situation.
Research has shownthat highly intelligent people, those whoare
confident of themselves, those who arestrongly committed and have a
high self-esteem are less likely to conform.
Conformity takes place because ofinformational influence, i.e.
influence thatresults from accepting evidence ratherthan reality.
This kind of rationalconformity can be thought of as learningabout
the world from the actions of others.We learn by observing people,
who are thebest source of information about manysocial conventions.
New group memberslearn about the groups customs byobserving the
actions of other group
members. Conformity may also occurbecause of normative
influence, i.e.influence based on a persons desire to beaccepted or
admired by others. In suchcases, people conform because
deviationfrom group may lead to rejection or at theleast,
non-acceptance of some form ofpunishment. It is generally observed
thatthe group majority determines the finaldecision, but in certain
conditions, aminority may be more influential. Thisoccurs when the
minority takes a firm anduncompromising stand, thereby creating
adoubt on the correctness of the majoritysviewpoint. This creates a
conflict within thegroup (see Box 7.4).
Compliance
It was stated earlier that compliance referssimply to behaving
in response to a requestfrom another person or group even in
theabsence of a norm. A good example ofcompliance is the kind of
behaviour shownwhen a salesperson comes to our door.Very often,
this person comes with somegoods that we really do not wish to
buy.Yet, sometimes to our own surprise, wefind that the salesperson
has spoken to usfor a few minutes and the conversation hasended
with a purchase of what he or shewished to sell. So why do people
comply?
In many situations, this happensbecause it is an easy way out of
thesituation. It is more polite and the otherparty is pleased. In
other situations, therecould be other factors at work. Thefollowing
techniques have been found towork when someone wants another
personto comply. The foot-in-the-door technique : The
person begins by making a smallrequest that the other person is
notlikely to refuse. Once the other personcarries out the request,
a bigger requestis made. Simply because the otherperson has already
complied with the
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 143
smaller request, he or she may feeluncomfortable refusing the
secondrequest. For example, someone maycome to us on behalf of a
group andgive us a gift (something free), sayingthat it is for
promotion. Soonafterwards, another member of thesame group may come
to us again, andask us to buy a product made by thegroup.
The deadline technique : In thistechnique, a last date is
announceduntil which a particular product or anoffer will be
available. The aim is tomake people hurry and make thepurchase
before they miss the rareopportunity. It is more likely thatpeople
will buy a product under thisdeadline condition than if there is
nosuch deadline.
The door-in-the-face technique : Inthis technique, you begin
with a largerequest and when this is refused a laterrequest for
something smaller, the onethat was actually desired, is made,which
is usually granted by the person.
Obedience
When compliance is shown to aninstruction or order from a person
inauthority, such as parents, teachers,leaders, or policemen, that
behaviour iscalled obedience. Why people showobedience is easy to
understand. Mostoften it is because if we disobey, somepunishment
might follow. Sometimes, it isbecause we believe that persons
inauthority must be obeyed. People inauthority have ef fective
means forenforcing their orders. Milgram conductedan experiment to
show that individualsobey commands from people who arestrangers.
The experimenter informed therespondents in the study that they
wereparticipating in an experiment to study theeffects of
punishment on learning. The
experiment was conducted on pairs. Oneperson in each pair was
the learner,whose work was to memorise pairs ofwords. The other
participant was theteacher, who would read these wordsaloud and
punish the learner when s/hemade errors by giving her/him shock.
Thelearner would make errors according toprearranged instructions.
The teacher wasasked to deliver a shock each time thelearner made
errors. The teacher wasfurther told to increase the strength of
theshock each time the learner made an error.In reality, no shocks
were given. Theinstructions were so arranged that theteacher was
faced with a dilemma should s/he continue shocks even whenthey were
increasingly painful? Theexperimenter kept on motivating theteacher
to continue. In all, 65 per centshowed total obedience. Some
participants,however, protested and asked the sessionto end.
Milgrams study suggests that evenordinary people are willing to
harm aninnocent person if ordered by someone inauthority.
Why do people obey even when theyknow that their behaviour is
harmingothers? Psychologists have identifiedseveral reasons for
this. Some of thesereasons are : People obey because they feel that
they
are not responsible for their ownactions, they are simply
carrying outorders from the authority.
Authority generally possesses symbolsof status (e.g., uniform,
title) whichpeople find difficult to resist.
Authority gradually increasescommands from lesser to greater
levelsand initial obedience binds thefollowers for commitment. Once
youobey small orders, slowly there is anescalation of commitment
for theperson who is in authority and onestarts obeying bigger
orders.
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Psychology144
Many times, events are moving at sucha fast speed, for example
in a riotsituation, that one has no time to think,just obey orders
from above.
example, you can come first in acompetition only if others do
not performto such a level that they can be judged asfirst. A
cooperative goal, on the other hand,is one in which each individual
can attainthe goal only if other members of the groupalso attain
the goal. Let us try tounderstand this from an example
fromathletics. In a hundred metres racebetween six people, only one
can be thewinner. Success depends on individualperformance. In a
relay race, victorydepends on the collective performance ofall
members of a team. Deutschinvestigated cooperation and
competitionwithin groups. College students wereassigned to groups
of five persons andwere required to solve puzzles andproblems. One
set of groups, referred to asthe cooperative group, were told that
theywould be rewarded collectively for theirperformance. The other
set of groups,labelled as competitive group were toldthat there was
a reward for individualexcellence. Results showed that
incooperative groups, there was morecoordination, there was
acceptance foreach others ideas, and members weremore friendly than
those in the competitivegroup. The main concern of the membersof
the cooperative group was to see that thegroup excels.
Although competition betweenindividuals within a group may
result inconflict and disharmony, competitionbetween groups may
increase within groupcohesion and solidarity.
Prisoners Dilemma Game, which is atwo person game in which both
parties arefaced with cooperation or competition, anddepending upon
their choices both can winor lose, is often used to study
cooperationor competition. This game is based on ananecdote. Two
suspects were quizzed bydetectives separately. The detectives
hadonly enough evidence to convict them fora small offence.
Separately the two convicts
Demonstrating Obedience inDaily Life
Do you believe the results of Milgramstudies on obedience to
authority? Seefor yourself whether obedience occursor not.
Take permission from your teacherto go to one of the junior
classes. Goand make a series of requests to thestudents. Some
examples of suchrequests are :
Ask students to change their seatswith another student.Ask
students to croak like a frog.Ask students to say jai hind.Ask
students to put their hands up.(Feel free to add your own
ideas)What did you see? Did students
obey you? Ask them why they did so?Explain to them that you were
studyingwhy we obey seniors. Come back anddiscuss what you saw in
the class withyour teacher and classmates.
Activity7.4
COOPERATION AND COMPETITION
People interact with each other in differentcontexts. Behaviours
in most socialsituations are characterised by eithercooperation or
competition. When groupswork together to achieve shared goals,
werefer to it as cooperation. The rewards incooperative situations
are group rewardsand not individual rewards. However, whenmembers
try to maximise their ownbenefits and work for the realisation of
self-interest, competition is likely to result.Social groups may
have both competitiveas well as cooperative goals. Competitivegoals
are set in such a way that eachindividual can get her/his goal only
ifothers do not attain their goals. For
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 145
Box7.5Sherifs Summer Camp Experiments : A Journey from Ingroup
Formation to
Intergroup Competition and Finally Intergroup Cooperation
Sherif conducted a series of experiments on 1112 year old boys
who did not know eachother. The boys were attending a summer camp.
Unknown to the boys, there wereresearchers in the camp who examined
their (the boys) behaviour. The experiment consistedof four phases,
viz. friendship formation, group formation, intergroup competition,
andintergroup cooperation.
Friendship formation : When the boys arrived at the camp, they
spent their initialtime together. They mixed freely with each other
and chose their friends for games andother activities.
Ingroup formation : The boys were then divided into two groups
by the experimenter.The boys belonging to the two groups lived
separately. Members within the groupengaged in cooperative projects
to increase cohesiveness. The groups were given separatenames. Over
time, they developed their own norms.
Intergroup competition : The two groups were brought together in
several competitivesituations. Matches were organised in which the
groups competed against each other.This competition brought in
tension and hostility against each other as a group; somuch so that
the groups started calling each other names. At the same time,
ingroupcohesion and loyalty became stronger.
Intergroup cooperation : To reduce the hostility generated by
intergroup competition,the researchers created a problem which
affected both the groups, and both groupswanted to solve them.
Superordinate goals could be achieved only through
cooperationbetween the groups. The water supply of both groups was
disrupted. Members of bothgroups helped each other to overcome
this. This intergroup cooperation phase reducedthe hostility. This
resulted in the development of a superordinate goal, i.e. a goal
towhich personal goals were subordinated.
This research is important as it showed that antagonistic and
hostile behaviour can begenerated by group situations. At the same
time, it shows that hostility between groupscan be reduced by
focusing on superordinate goals, which are important and beneficial
toboth groups alike.
Player A Cooperation Competition
3 5
3 0
0 2
5 2
Fig.7.2 : Cooperation vs. Competition
Pla
yer
B C
ooper
ati
on C
ompet
itio
n
were offered a chance to confess. If oneconfesses and the other
does not, the onewho confesses will get no punishment andher/his
confession will be used to convictthe other with a serious offence.
If bothconfess, the punishment to both will bemild. If neither
confesses, each will receivea light sentence. This game has been
usedin hundreds of experiments to demonstratethat when two parties
are involved, thereis a conflict between motive to cooperateand
motive to compete (see Figure 7.2).
For example, there are two players, Aand B. If both cooperate,
both get threepoints each. If player A competes and wins,
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Psychology146
s/he gets 5 points and B gets 0 points. IfB competes and wins
s/he gets 5 pointsand A gets 0 points. If both A and Bcompete, both
get two points each. Whatoutcomes do you expect? Why do youexpect
so? Give reasons.
Determinants of Cooperation andCompetition
What factors determine whether people willcooperate or compete?
Some of theimportant ones are given below:(i) Reward structure :
Psychologists
believe that whether people will co-operate or compete will
depend on thereward structure. Cooperative rewardstructure is one
in which there ispromotive interdependence. Each isbeneficiary of
the reward and reward ispossible only if all contribute.
Acompetitive reward structure is one inwhich one can get a reward
only ifothers do not get it.
(ii) Interpersonal communication : Whenthere is good
interpersonalcommunication, then cooperation is thelikely
consequence. Communicationfacilitates interaction, and
discussion.As a result, group members canconvince each other and
learn abouteach other.
(iii)Reciprocity : Reciprocity means thatpeople feel obliged to
return what theyget. Initial cooperation may encouragemore
cooperation. Competition mayprovoke more competition. If
someonehelps, you feel like helping that person;on the other hand,
if someone refusesto help you when you need help, youwould not like
to help that person also.
SOCIAL IDENTITY
Have you ever asked the question whoam I? What was your answer
to thisquestion? Probably your answer was that
you are a hard-working, happy-go-luckygirl/boy. This answer
tells you about yoursocial identity which is ones self-definitionof
who s/he is. This self-definition mayinclude both personal
attributes, e.g. hardworking, happy-go-lucky, or attributeswhich
you share with others, e.g. girl orboy. Although some aspects of
our identityare determined by physical characteristics,we may
acquire other aspects as aconsequence of our interaction with
othersin society. Sometimes we perceive ourselvesas unique
individuals and at other times weperceive ourselves as members of
groups.Both are equally valid expressions of self.Our personal
identities derived from viewsof oneself as a unique individual, and
socialidentities derived from groups we perceiveourselves to be
members of, are bothimportant to us. The extent to which wedefine
ourselves either at personal or atsocial levels is flexible. From
your ownexperience, you would realise thatidentification with
social groups can havea great deal of importance for your
self-concept. How do you feel when India winsa cricket match? You
feel elated and proud.You feel so because of your social identityas
an Indian. Social identity is, thus, thataspect of our self-concept
which is basedon our group membership. Social identityplaces us,
i.e. tells us what and where weare in the larger social context,
and thushelps us to locate ourselves in society. Youhave a social
identity of a student of yourschool. Once you have this identity of
astudent of your school, you internalise thevalues emphasised in
your school andmake these values your own. You strive tofulfil the
motto of your school. Socialidentity provides members with a
sharedset of values, beliefs and goals aboutthemselves and about
their social world.Once you internalise the values of yourschool,
this helps to coordinate andregulate your attitudes and behaviour.
You
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 147
work hard for your school to make it thebest school in your
city/state. When wedevelop a strong identity with our owngroup, the
categorisation as ingroup andoutgroup becomes salient. The group
withwhich you identify yourself becomes theingroup and others
become the outgroup.The negative aspect of this own group
andoutgroup categorisation is that we startshowing favouritism
towards our ingroup byrating it more favourably in comparison tothe
outgroup, and begin devaluating theoutgroup. This devaluation of
the outgroupis the basis of a number of intergroupconflicts.
INTERGROUP CONFLICT : NATURE ANDCAUSES
Conflict is a process in which either anindividual or a group
perceives that others(individual or group) have opposinginterests,
and both try to contradict eachother. There is this intense feeling
of weand other (also referred to as they).There is also a belief by
both parties thatthe other will protect only its own
interests;their (the other sides) interests will,therefore, not be
protected. There is notonly opposition of each other, but they
alsotry to exert power on each other. Groupshave been found to be
more aggressivethan individuals. This often leads toescalation of
conflict. All conflicts are costlyas there is a human price for
them. Inwars, there are both victories and defeats,but the human
cost of war is far beyondall this. Various types of conflict
arecommonly seen in society, which turn outto be costly for both
sides as well as forsociety.
Mentioned below are some of the majorreasons for group
conflicts. One major reason is lack of
communication and faulty communi-cation by both parties. This
kind ofcommunication leads to suspicion, i.e.
there is a lack of trust. Hence, conflictresults.
Another reason for intergroup conflictis relative deprivation.
It arises whenmembers of a group comparethemselves with members of
anothergroup, and perceive that they do nothave what they desire to
have, whichthe other group has. In other words,they feel that they
are not doing well incomparison to other groups. This maylead to
feelings of deprivation anddiscontentment, which may trigger
offconflict.
Another cause of conflict is one partysbelief that it is better
than the other,and what it is saying should be done.When this does
not happen, bothparties start accusing each other. Onemay often
witness a tendency tomagnify even smaller differences,thereby
conflict gets escalated becauseevery member wants to respect
thenorms of her/his group.
A feeling that the other group does notrespect the norms of my
group, andactually violates those norms becauseof a malevolent
intent.
Desire for retaliation for some harmdone in the past could be
anotherreason for conflict.
Biased perceptions are at the root ofmost conflicts. As already
mentionedearlier, feelings of they and we lead tobiased
perceptions.
Research has shown that when actingin groups, people are more
competitiveas well as more aggressive than whenthey are on their
own. Groups competeover scarce resources, both materialresources,
e.g. territory, and money aswell as social resources, e.g.
respectand esteem.
Perceived inequity is another reason forconflict. Equity refers
to distribution ofrewards in proportion to an
individualscontributions, if:
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Psychology148
=
But, if you contribute more and getless, you are likely to feel
irritated andexploited.
Conflicts between groups give impetusto a series of social and
cognitive processes.These processes harden the stand of eachside
leading to ingroup polarisation. Thismay result in coalition
formation of like-minded parties, thereby increasing
theapprehensions of both parties resulting inmisperceptions, and
biased interpretationsand attributions. The result is
increasedconflict. Present-day society is fraught withvarious
intergroup conflicts. These arerelated to caste, class, religion,
region,language, just to name a few of them.Gardner Murphy wrote a
book entitledIn the Minds of Men. Most conflicts beginin the minds
of men and then go to the field.Explanations of such conflicts can
be at thestructural, group, and individual levels.Structural
conditions include high rates ofpoverty, economic and social
stratification,inequality, limited political and socialopportunity,
etc. Research on group levelfactors has shown that social
identity,realistic conflict between groups overresources, and
unequal power relationsbetween groups lead to escalation
ofconflict. At the individual level, beliefs,biased attitudes, and
personalitycharacteristics are important determinants.It has been
found that at the individuallevel, there is a progression along
acontinuum of violence. Very small acts thatinitially may have no
significance, likecalling the other group a name, may leadto
psychological changes that make furtherdestructive actions
possible.
Deutsch identified the followingconsequences of intergroup
conflict.
Communication between the groupsbecomes poor. The groups do not
trusteach other, thereby leading to abreakdown in communication and
thisgenerates suspicion for each other.
Groups start magnifying theirdifferences and start perceiving
theirbehaviour as fair and the othersbehaviour as unfair.
Each side tries to increase its ownpower and legitimacy. As a
conse-quence, the conflict gets escalatedshifting from few specific
issues tomuch larger issues.
Once conflict starts, several otherfactors lead to escalation of
conflict.Hardening of ingroup opinion, explicitthreats directed at
the outgroup, eachgroup retaliating more and more, andother parties
also choosing to take sideslead to escalation of conflict.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES
Conflicts can be reduced if we know abouttheir causes. The
processes that increaseconflict can be turned around to reduce
italso. A number of strategies have beensuggested by psychologists.
Some of theseare :
Introduction of superordinate goals :Sherifs study, already
mentioned in thesection on cooperation and competition,showed that
by introducing superordinategoals, intergroup conflict can be
reduced.A superordinate goal is mutually beneficialto both parties,
hence both groups workcooperatively.
Altering perceptions : Conflicts can alsobe reduced by altering
perceptions andreactions through persuasion, educationaland media
appeals, and portrayal of groupsdifferently in society. Promoting
empathyfor others should be taught to everyoneright from the
beginning.
Your rewards
Your contributions
Your friendsrewards
Your friendscontributions
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 149
Key TermsArbitration, Cohesiveness, Competition, Compliance,
Conflict, Conformity, Cooperation, Goal achievement,Group, Group
formation, Groupthink, Identity, Ingroup, Interdependence,
Intergroup, Negotiation, Norms,Obedience, Outgroup, Proximity,
Roles, Social facilitation, Social influence, Social inhibition,
Socialloafing, Status, Structure, Superordinate goals.
Increasing intergroup contacts : Conflictcan also be reduced by
increasing contactsbetween the groups. This can be done byinvolving
groups in conflict on neutralgrounds through community projects
andevents. The idea is to bring them togetherso that they become
more appreciative ofeach others stand. However, for contactsto be
successful, they need to bemaintained, which means that they
shouldbe supported over a period of time.
Redrawing group boundaries : Anothertechnique that has been
suggested bysome psychologists is redrawing the groupboundaries.
This can be done by creatingconditions where groups boundaries
areredefined and groups come to perceivethemselves as belonging to
a commongroup.
Negotiations : Conflict can also beresolved through negotiations
and thirdparty interventions. Warring groups canresolve conflict by
trying to find mutuallyacceptable solutions. This
requiresunderstanding and trust. Negotiation refersto reciprocal
communications so as toreach an agreement in situations in
which
there is a conflict. Sometimes it is difficultto dissipate
conflict through negotiations;at that time mediation and
arbitration bya third party is needed. Mediators helpboth parties
to focus their discussions onthe relevant issues and reach a
voluntaryagreement. In arbitration, the third partyhas the
authority to give a decision afterhearing both parties.
Structural solutions : Conflict can also bereduced by
redistributing the societalresources according to principles based
onjustice. Research on justice has identifiedseveral principles of
justice. Some of theseare : equality (allocating equally to
everyone), need (allocating on the basis ofneeds), and equity
(allocating on the basisof contributions of members).
Respect for other groups norms : In apluralist society like
India, it is necessaryto respect and be sensitive to the
strongnorms of various social and ethnic groups.It has been noticed
that a number ofcommunal riots between different groupshave taken
place because of suchinsensitivity.
Groups are different from other collections of people. Mutual
interdependence, roles,status, and expectations are the main
characteristics of groups.
Groups are organised systems of two or more individuals. People
join groups because they provide security, status, self-esteem,
satisfaction of
ones psychological and social needs, goal achievement, and
knowledge andinformation.
Proximity, similarity, and common motives and goals facilitate
group formation. Generally, group work leads to beneficial results.
However, sometimes in cohesive
and homogeneous groups, the phenomenon of groupthink may occur.
Groups are of different types, i.e. primary and secondary, formal
and informal, and
ingroup and outgroup.
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Psychology150
Weblinkshttp://www.mapnp.org/library/grp_skill/theory/theory.htmhttp://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htmhttp://www.stanleymilgram.com/main.htmhttp://www.psychclassics.yorku.ca/sheriff/chap1.htm
Review Questions1. Compare and contrast formal and informal
groups, and ingroups and outgroups.2. Are you a member of a certain
group? Discuss what motivated you to join that
group.3. How does Tuckmans stage model help you to understand
the formation of groups?4. How do groups influence our behaviour?5.
How can you reduce social loafing in groups? Think of any two
incidents of social
loafing in school. How did you overcome it?6. How often do you
show conformity in your behaviour? What are the determinants of
conformity?7. Why do people obey even when they know that their
behaviour may be harming
others? Explain.8. What are the benefits of cooperation?9. How
is ones identity formed?
10. What are some of the causes of intergroup conflict? Think of
any international conflict.Reflect on the human price of this
conflict.
ProjectIdeas
1. S/he who does not ask will never get a bargain. Collect the
newspapers of last onemonth. List the different bargains that were
offered by shopkeepers. What compliancetechniques were used by
them? Ask your friends how many were attracted by
thesebargains.
2. Make a list of different conflicts that have occurred among
different houses in theschool. How were these conflicts
resolved?
3. Identify any Test series in cricket which India played
recently. Collect the newspapersof that period. Evaluate the
reviews of the matches and comments made by Indian andrival
commentators. Do you see any difference between the comments?
4. Imagine that you have to collect money to help an NGO working
for the girl child. Whattechniques of social influence would you
use? Try any two techniques and see thedifference.
Groups influence individual behaviour. Social facilitation and
social loafing are twoimportant influences of groups.
Conformity, compliance, and obedience are three important forms
of social influence. Conformity is the most indirect form of social
influence; obedience the most direct
form; compliance is in-between the two. People interact in
social situations by either cooperating or competing. Ones
self-definition of who s/he is referred to as social identity.
Group conflicts occur in all societies. Group conflicts can be
reduced if we know the causes of such conflicts.
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Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes 151
Pedagogical Hints1. In the topic of nature and formation
of groups, students should be madeto understand the importance
ofgroups in real-life. Here, it needs tobe emphasised that they
should becareful in choosing groups.Teachers can ask a few
studentshow they have become members ofdifferent groups, and what
do theyget from membership in thesegroups.
2. For explaining social loafing, simpleexperiments can be
conducted inthe class by asking students toperform some activities
in groupsand then asking them about theircontributions in the
activitiesundertaken. Learning experiencefor students should be on
ways toavoid social loafing.
3. In the topic of cooperation andcompetition, students should
betold the benefits of both cooperationand competition. They should
beable to appreciate that cooperationis a better strategy in
society. Somecases of real-life where cooperativeefforts have been
successful can bediscussed.
4. Students should be able toappreciate that identities
areimportant and how our identitiesinfluence our social
behaviour.
5. In the section on intergroup conflict,emphasis should be on
conflictresolution strategies rather thanconflict per se.