Social Action

1
Social Action

• Are two heads better than one?

2
De-individuation

• Deindividuation A loss of personal sense of
  responsibility in a group.
• Examples Mob Behavior, looting, wanton
  destruction of property
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vBKTw-UHalZcfeature
  PlayListp7A7C29A187249974index0playnext1
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v_Mw2Xg0DELc
• The more anonymous people feel in a group, the
  less responsible people feel as individuals

3
Other Contributing Factors to Mob Behavior

• Snowball Effect one dominant and persuasive
  person can convince people to act.
• If one person can convince a few people, then
  they in turn will convince a few people each and
  so on.
• Large Group provide protection through anonymity.
• People are more destructive and irresponsible
  than they are individually

4
Helping Behavior

• Altruistic Behavior- Helping behavior that is not
  linked to any personal gain.
• Under what conditions is helping behavior most
  likely to occur?
• 2 important variable must be present
• Those inherent in the situation
• Bystander Effect see next slide
• Ambiguity - Any factors that make it harder for
  others to recognize a genuine emergency reduce
  the probability of altruistic actions
• Those grounded in the individual
• Increasing amounts of personal responsibility
  boosts the likelihood that help will be given
• Amount of empathy we feel toward another person
• Mood

5

• Bystander Effect The tendency for an
  individuals helpfulness in an emergency to
  decrease as the number of bystanders increase.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vKIvGIwLcIuw
• Empathy
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vxu2nnOSCTzgfeature
  PlayListp8EBA677326DC8EC1index6

6
Group Making Decisions

• Our society tends to turn important decisions
  over to groups.
• Examples Groups of advisers, cabinet officers,
  committee members, trial by jury, Supreme Court
• Why are so many decisions entrusted to groups
  rather than individuals?
• Belief that groups are more conservative in their
  approach

7

• Not so.
• Risky Shift Greater willingness to take risks
  in decision making in a group than independent
  individuals.
• Polarization Shift in attitudes by members of a
  group toward more extreme positions than the ones
  held before group discussion.
• 1. People discover there are others that think as
  they do
• 2. Reassures and intensifies attitudes

8
Groups over Individuals

• Steiner (1972) groups are more effective than
  individuals only under certain circumstances
• 3 Factors
• 1. Nature of the task If task matches skills of
  group
• 2. Resources of group members
• 3. Interaction among group members high status
  members exert more influence

9
Other Factors

• Size matters if group is too large it tends to
  promote social loafing.
• Social Loafing The tendency of people to exert
  less effort on a task when working in a group
  than when working individually.
• Cohesiveness can be good, but it can also lead
  to groupthink
• Groupthink strong pressure to conform.

10
Group Think

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-IpHXRIBy7k
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vMr1TMyxArXkfeature
  related
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-IpHXRIBy7k