this is (not) psychology

Why group work is ineffective

Have you ever been a member of a group that got virtually nothing accomplished? If so, you may have been a victim of social loafing, a phenomenon in which people slack off in groups (Latané,Williams, & Harkins, 1979; North, Linley, & Hargreaves, 2000). As a consequence of social loafing, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Some psychologists believe that social loafing is a variant of bystander nonintervention.

That’s because social loafing appears to be due in part to diffusion of responsibility: People working in groups typically feel less responsible for the outcome of a project than they do when working alone. As a result, they don’t invest as much effort.

Psychologists have demonstrated social loafing in numerous experiments. In one, a researcher placed blindfolds and headphones on six participants and asked them to clap or yell as loudly as possible. When participants thought they were making noises as part of a group, they were less loud than when they thought they were making noises alone (Williams, Harkins, & Latané, 1981). Cheerleaders also cheer less loudly when they believe they’re part of a group than when they believe they’re alone (Hardy & Latané, 1986). Investigators have also identified social loafing effects in studies of rope-pulling (the “tug-of war” game), navigating mazes, identifying radar signals, and evaluating job candidates (Karau & Williams, 1995).

Like many other social psychological phenomena, social loafing may be influenced by cultural factors. People in individualistic countries, like the United States, are more prone to social loafing than people in collectivist countries, like China, probably because people in the latter countries feel more responsible for the outcomes of group successes or failures (Earley, 1989).

One of the best antidotes to social loafing is to ensure that each person in the group is identifiable, for example, by guaranteeing that managers and bosses can evaluate each individual’s performance. By doing so, we can help “diffuse” the diffusion of responsibility that often arises in groups.

from: Psychology - From Inquiry to Understanding

Tags: psychology, social psychology, social loafing, group work, team work, bystander apathy,