CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes Notes

NATURE AND FORMATION OF GROUPS

Group: Organised system of two or more people who interact and are interdependent, have common motives, have a set of role relationships among members and have norms that regulate the behaviour of its members.

Features:
1. Collection of people with common goals and motives.
2. Two or more people: perceive themselves as belonging to the group—each group is unique.
3. Members are interdependent.
4. Members interact with each other directly or indirectly.
5. Members satisfy needs through joint association—influence each other.
6. Set of norms and roles—specific functions for each member, adhere to norms on how one must behave, expected behaviour, etc.

Advantages:
We are simultaneously members of different groups; different groups satisfy different needs but could create pressures due to competing demands and expectations.

1. Security: Groups reduce insecurity—
• being with people—sense of comfort/protection.
• people feel stronger—less vulnerable to threats.

2. Status: Recognised group gives feeling of power and importance.

3. Self-esteem: Feeling of self worth and positive social identity.
• member of prestigious group enhances self-concept.

4. Goal Achievement: Group helps to attain some goals which can’t be attained alone (power in the majority).

5. Provides Knowledge and Information: Broadens views, helps supplement information.

6. Satisfaction of Psychological and Social Needs: Like sense of belongingness—giving and receiving attention, love and power.

Group Formation:
Some form of contact and interaction between people is needed.
1. Proximity: Closeness and repeated interactions with the same people (get to know their interests, attitudes and background).
2. Similarity: People prefer consistency—consistent relationship (reinforces and validates opinions and values; feel we’re right).
3. Common Motives and Goals: Groups facilitate goal attainment.

Stages of group formation (Tuckman):
1. Forming: Member’s first meet—there is uncertainty about group and goal and how it will be achieved.
— they try to get to know each other—there is excitement and apprehension.
2. Storming: Intragroup conflict—about how the goal is to be achieved, who’s the leader and who will perform what task (hierarchy of leadership and how to achieve goal is developed.
3. Norming: Develop norms related to group behaviour (development of a positive group identity).
4. Performing: Structure of the group has evolved and is accepted (towards goal achievement); at this is the last stage of group development.
5. Adjourning: Once the function is over the group may be disbanded.
Notes:
— Groups do not always proceed in a systematic manner.
— Stages could even take place simultaneously.
— Groups can go back and forth between stages or skip a few stages.
Group Structure: Over time there are regularities in distribution of tasks, responsibilities assigned to members and status of members.

Elements:

1. Roles: Socially defined expectation that individuals in given situations are expected to fulfil, i.e., typical behaviour that depicts a person in a given social context.
(i) Role Expectations: Behaviour expected of someone in a particular role.

2. Norms (unspoken rules): Expected standards of behaviour and beliefs established, agreed upon and enforced by group-members.

3. Status: Relative social position given to group-members by others.
(i) Ascribed (given due to one’s seniority) or achieved (because of expertise or hard work).
(ii) Members of a group—enjoy status, and want to be members of prestigious groups.
(iii) Within groups, different members have different prestige and status.

4. Cohesiveness: Togetherness, binding or mutual attraction among members
(i) More Cohesiveness: Members start thinking, feeling and acting as a social unit
(no isolated individuals); there is an increased desire to remain in group (we feelingsense of belongingness).
(iii) Extreme cohesiveness leads to group think and is negative.

Types of Groups:

Influence of Group on Individual Behaviour:
1. Social Loafing: This is the reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task.
— Individual performing an activity with the others as part of a larger group.
— Individuals work less hard in a group than alone.
— Don’t know much effort each one is putting in.
— Presence of others leads to arousal; motivates individuals to enhance their performance (only when a person’s efforts are individually evaluated).

Causes of Social Loafing:
(a) Members feel less responsible for the overall task and thus exert less effort.
(b) Performance of the group isn’t compared with other groups.
(c) Motivation decreases as contributions are not individually evaluated.
(d) No/improper co-ordination between members.
(e) Belonging to the same group is not important for members (it is only aggregate of individuals).

Can be reduced by:
(a) Making effort of each person identifiable.
(b) Increasing pressure to work hard—make members committed, motivated.
(c) Increase apparent importance and value of task.
(d) Make them feel their individual contribution is important.
(e) Strengthen group cohesiveness—increase motivation for successful group outcome.

2. Group Polarisation: Groups are likely to take more extreme decisions than individuals would take alone—
• strengthening of group’s initial position because of groups interaction.
• dangerous repercussions—groups may take extreme position (very weak to very strong decisions).

Causes of group Polirization:
(a) In the company of like-minded people, you’re likely to hear newer arguments favouring your view-points.
(b) Bandwagon effect—when you find others sharing your view-point, you feel your view is validated by the public.
(c) When people have similar views as you, you’re likely to perceive them as in-group (start identifying with them, show conformity—views become strengthened).

Social Influences: Those processes whereby our attitudes and behaviours are influences by the real or imagined presence of other people.
Kelman.
Identification: Influence process based on agreement or identity seeking.
Internalisation: Process based on information seeking.
1. Conformity:
— Most indirect form of social influence.
— Tendency to follow norms is natural and spontaneous (norms are unwritten informal
rules: provide information about what is expected from people in a situation; allows the group of function smoothly).
— People feel uncomfortable if they’re ‘different’ (could lead to dislike/disapproval or some form of social punishment) (deviants/non-conformists).
— Following norms is the easiest way to avoid disapproval.
— Norms reflect the views and beliefs of the majority (feel majority is likely to be right).
— Experiments on conformity by Sherif (Autokinetic effect) and Asch (Asch technique)

(condition determining the extent of conformity—degrees of conformity determined by situation specific factors).

Determinants of Conformity:
(a) Size of Group: More conformity when group is small.
(b) Size of Minority: Larger the minority, lesser the conformity (more is the deviance).
(c) Nature of the Task: more conformity when there are objective questions.
(d) Public/Private Expression of Behaviour: More conformity in public and less conformity in private expression.
(e) Personality: Conforming personality—tendency to change behaviour according to what others do (others are independent, don’t look for norms to decide how to behave in a situation—highly intelligent people are confident).
Conformity occurs because of:
(a) Informational influence (that results from accepting evidence, not reality. Rational conformity- learn through observing other’s actions)
(b) Normative influence (based on desire to be accepted and admired—conform because deviation could lead to rejection/non-acceptance. Majority determines final decision but at times if minority is firm and uncompromising it doubts on the majority’s minds).

2. Compliance: Extreme condition forcing the person to accept influence (of a significant other) and behave in a particular way in response to a request from another person/group even in the absence of a norm. Why do we comply—easier way out of the situation more polite.

Factors used to make others comply:
(i) ‘Foot in the Door’ Technique: Being by making small request that one can’t refuse move on to bigger ones-once you comply with the first request, feel uncomfortable refusing the second one.
(ii) ‘Deadline‘ Technique: A ‘last date’ is announced until an offer is available—make people hurry so they can’t miss the opportunity. More (the one actually required),usually granted.
(iii) ‘Door in the Face Technique: Being with a large request and when this is refused move onto making a smaller request (the one actually required), usually granted.

3. Obedience
— Response to a person in authority.
— Direct and explicit form of social influence (someone has requested and you comply).
— If disobeyed, one is likely to get punished from people in authority; thus, one to obey as people in authority have effective means for enforcing order.
— Milgram’s experiment: Even ordinary people are willing to harm innocent people if ordered by someone in authority.

Why do people obey (after knowing the effects)?
(a) Feel they are not responsible for their own action and that they are simply carrying out orders from an authority.
(b) Authority is powerful and possesses symbol of status, and thus difficult to resist.
(c) Authority increases commands from lesser to greater levels (initial obedience binds followers for commitment and once you obey small orders you start obeying bigger orders as you feel committed to the authority).
(d) Events move at such a fast speed that there is no time to think, one just obeys orders, e.g., riots

Co-operation and Competition:

Determinants of Co-operation and Competition:

(a) Reward Structure:
Co-operative reward structure promotes interdependence; reward possible only if all contribute.
Competitive reward structure—only one gets the award.

(b) Interpersonal Communication: Good interpersonal communication increases co-operation (facilitates interaction, discussion, convinces each other and increases learning about each other).

(c) Reciprocity: People feel obligated to return the behaviour they get (initial cooperation leads to increased co-operation and initial competitiveness leads to competition).

Social Identity: Aspect of our self-concept which is based on our group-membership (tells us about one’s position in the larger social contact and helps us located ourselves in society)
— derives from groups we are a part of.
— includes personal attributes and attributes we share with others.
— acquires certain attributes from interaction with others in society.
— identification with social groups is important for self-concept.
— provides members with a shared set of values, beliefs and goal about ourselves and others
— in-group—group with which you identify yourself (start showing favouritism towards it. Rate it above out-group and devaluate outgroup—basis of intergroup conflicts).

Intergroup Conflicts:

Conflict: This is process in which either an individual or a group perceives others as having opposing interest and both try to contradict each other (‘we’ and ‘they’ feeling are strong)
— belief that ‘others’ will protect only its own interests.
— both try to exert power on one another.
— when groups are more aggressive than individuals, it leads to escalation of conflict.
— costly human price in conflicts.

Causes:
(a) Lack of communication or Faulty Communication: It leads to suspicion and lack of trust.
(b) Relative Deprivation: Compare oneself to members of the other group:
— don’t have what you desire: others have it.
— not doing well in comparison to others: deprivation depression.
(c) Belief that one is better than the other: What one partly believes should be done (if it does not happen—then members accuse one another and small differences are magnified.
This leads to increased conflict).
(d) Desire for Retaliation: For harm done in the past.
(e) No Respect for Others Norms: Feeling that other group does not respect norms of my group and violates them because of malevolent intent.
(f) Biased Perception: Feeling of ‘they’ and ‘we’.
(g) People are more aggressive and competitive in groups than on their own (due to competition over scarce resources).
(h) Perceived Inequity: Equity—distribution of rewards in proportion to individual’s contributions (you feel irritated and exploited if you contribute more and are rewarded less).

Notes:
— Conflicts between groups leads to series of social and cognitive processes—hardens the stand of each side (ingroup polarization).
— Coalition of like-minded parties increases apprehension.
— Misperceptions and biased interpretations increase conflicts.
Murphy—Conflicts begin in the minds of men.

Structural Level: Increase in poverty rates, inequality, limited political and social opportunity, economic and social stratification.

Group Level: Social identity, unequal power relations, resources.
Individual Level: Beliefs, biased attitudes, personality characteristics (there is progression along a continuum of violence—butterfly effect).

Consequences (Deutsch):
(a) Communication becomes poor between groups (lack of trust—breakdown in communication leads to suspicion).
(b) Groups start magnifying their differences and perceive their behaviour as fair and others as unfair.
(c) Each side tries to increase its own power and legitimacy, thus the conflict shifts from smaller to larger ones.
(d) Once conflict starts, other factors lead to escalation of conflict (in-group opinion is hardened, out-group is threatened and when other parties choose sides, the conflict is further escalated).

Conflict Resolution Strategies:
1. Introduction of Superordinate Goals: Superordinate goals reduce conflict and are mutually beneficial to both sides, thus sides work co-operatively.
2. Altering Perceptions: Through persuasion, educational and media appeal portrayal of groups differently. Also promoting empathy for others should be taught.
3. Increasing Intergroup Contact: By involving groups on neutral grounds through community projects and events they become more appreciative of each other’s stand.Contacts need to be maintained, supported over a period of time to be successful.
4. Redrawing Group Boundaries: Group boundaries create condition where boundaries are redefined; perceive themselves as belonging to a common group.
5. Negotiations: Reciprocal communication so as to reach an agreement in situation where there is a conflict.
(i) Conflict can be resolved through negotiations and third party interventions.
(ii) Groups try finding mutually acceptable solutions.
(iii) When negotiation doesn’t work then mediation (both parties reach a voluntary agreement and focus discussions on relevant issues) or arbitration (third party has the authority to give a decision after hearing both parties) by a is used.
6. Structural Solutions: Redistributing societal resources according to principles based on justice.Principles of justice—equality (allocating equally to everyone), need (allocating on the basis of one’s need) and equity (allocating on the basis of contribution).
7. Respect for other Group’s Norms: To respect and be sensitive to the strong norms of various social and ethnic groups, especially in India where many communal riots have occurred due to insensitivity of one religious group towards another.

Groupthink (Irving Janis)
(i) Cohesion can lead to a tendency to make irrational and uncritical decision—group allows its concerns for unanimity.
(ii) Appearance of consensus or unanimous agreement—each member believes that all members agree upon a particular decision, no one expresses dissenting opinion (undermine cohesion of group, makes him/her unpopular).
(iii) Exaggerated sense of its own power, ignores real world cues, out of touch with reality— occurs in socially homogenous, cohesive, isolated, do not consider alternatives, decision have high cost.
(iv) Prevention-encouraging and rewarding critical thinking and disagreement, encouraging groups to present alternative courses of action, inviting outside experts to evaluate group decision, encouraging seeking feedback from trusted others.

WORDS THAT MATTER

• Authority: The right inherent in a position (e.g., managerial) to give orders and to except the orders to be obeyed.
• Cohesiveness: All forces (factors) that cause group-members to remain in the group.
• Competition: Mutual striving between two individuals or groups for the same objective.
• Compliance: A form of social influence in which one or more persons, not holding authority, accept direct requests from one or more others.
• Conformity: A type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes or behaviours in order to adhere to existing social norms.
• Group: Two or more persons who interact with one another, have shared goals, are interdependent, and consider themselves as members of group.
• Groupthink: A mode of thinking in which the group-members desire to reach unanimous agreement overrides the wish to adopt proper, rational, decision-making procedures; an example of group polarization.
• In-group: The social group to which an individual perceives himself or herself as belonging (‘us’). The group with which one identifies. The other groups are out-groups.
• Obedience: Confirming behaviour in reaction to the commands of others.
• Out-group: Any group of which an individual is not a member.
• Primary Group: Group in which each member is personally known to each of the other members, and in which the members, at least on occasion, meet face-to-face.
• Proximity: The principle of Gestalt psychology that stimuli close together tend to be perceived as a group.
• Roles: An important concept in social psychology which refers to the behaviour expected of an individual in accordance with the position he/she holds in a particular society.
• Social Influence: The process by which the actions of an individual or group affect the behaviours of others.
• Social Inhibition: Social restraint on conduct.
• Social Loafing: In a group, each additional individual puts in less effort, thinking that others will be putting in their effort.
• Social Support: Information from other people that one is loved and cared for, esteemed and valued, and part of a network of communication and mutual obligation.
• Status: Social rank within a group.
• Structure: The enduring form and composition of a complex system or phenomenon.
Contrast with function, which is a process of a relatively brief duration, arising out of structure.

Question. Compare and contrast formal and informal groups, and in groups and out groups.
Answer. Formal Groups:
(i) The functions of a formal group are explicitly stated, as in an office organization, or social work club.
(ii) They have rigidly stated functions and the roles of the members are well-defined or imposed.
(iii) Formal groups have a chain of command for decision-making. e.g., military or bureaucracy.
Informal Groups:
(i) Informal decision-making process may exist as parallel mechanisms.
(ii) Members of informal groups usually feel more comfortable to take decision in informal settings. e.g., tea time group or lunch group.
(iii) There are no elicit rules and regulations for informal group.
In-group:
(i) It is generally considered as ‘me, my, we, or our’ group.
(ii) People in in-group are viewed as having desirable behaviour and admirable traits.
(iii) It is always good, strong, cohesive, kind-hearted, open, relaxing and cool.
Out-group:
(i) It is considered as ‘they’ group.
(ii) Members are often perceived negatively.
(iii) It is always bad, dirty, damaging, dangerous and has people with negative emotions.

Question. Are you a member of a certain group? Discuss what motivated are you to join that groups.
Answer. Definitely I am member of various groups. In other words, I will say that there is no dimension of life where I am not related to a group because we all are social beings and for everything, we are dependent on this or that group. There are various reasons which motivate me and everybody to join a group. Some of them are as follows:
(i) Security: Groups reduce the feeling of insecurity. Being with people gives a sense of comfort and protection.
(ii) Status: When the group is perceived as important high profile and well known, then the members also feel recognized and ‘experience a sense of power’. e.g., being a student of high profile school.
(iii) Self-esteem: Being a member of a prestigious group enhances the individual’s selfconcept.
(iv) Satisfaction of one’s Psychological and Social Needs: Groups satisfy one’s social and psychological needs such as sense of belongingness, giving and receiving attention, love and power.
(v) Group Achievement: Groups help in achieving the goals which cannot be attained individually.
(vi) Provide Knowledge and Information: Group membership provides us knowledge and information and broadens our views.

Question. How does Tuckman’s stage model help you to understand the formation of groups?
Answer. According to Tuckman, group formation takes place in following stages:
(i) Forming Stage: When group-members first meet, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the group, the goal, and how it is to be achieved.
(ii) Storming: There is a stage of intergroup conflict. There is conflict among members about how the target of the group is to be achieved, who is to control the group and its resources, and who is to perform what task.
(iii) Norming: Group-members by this time develop norms related to group behaviour.This leads to development of a positive group identity.
(iv) Performing: At this stage, the structure of the group has evolved and is accepted by group-members. The group moves towards achieving the group goal.
(v) Adjourning Stage: In this stage, once the function is over or goal is achieved, the group may be disbanded.

These stages help in group formation. Which occurs on the basis of following factors:
(i) Proximity: Individuals with similar background, living in the same complex (e.g., going to the same school) may form groups on the basis of proximity.
(ii) Similarity: It has been observed that more the similarity in the attitudes, interest, beliefs and value system of two persons, greater the likelihood that they would form a group.
(iii) Common Motives and Goals: When a number of people have common objectives or goals, they tend to get together and form a group.

Question. How do groups influence our behaviour? 
Answer. I. Group influence our behaviour in following three forms:
• ‘Social facilitation’ is a form of group influence.
• ‘Social facilitation’ refers to a concept that performance on specific task is influenced by the mere presence of others.
• Norman Triplett observed that individuals show better performance in presence of others, than when they are performing the same task alone.
Better performance in presence of others is because the person experiences According to arousal, which makes the person react in a more intense manner.

The arousal is because the person feels he or she is being evaluated. Cottrell called this idea evaluation apprehension. The person will be praised if performance is good (reward), he/she will be criticised if it is bad (punishment). We wish to get praise and avoid criticism, therefore we try to perform well and avoid criticism.
As in case of complex task, the person may be afraid of making mistakes. And the fear of criticism or punishment is stronger.
If the others present are also performing same task, this is called a situation of coaction.
When task is simple or a familiar one, performance is better under co-action than when the person is alone. Task performing can be facilitated and improved or inhibited and worsened by the presence of others. If we are working together in a larger group, the less effort each member puts in. This phenomena is called social loafing, based on diffusion of responsibility.
Diffusion of responsibility can also be frequently seen in situations where people are expected to help.

II. ‘Social loafing’ refers to reduction in motivation when people are functioning collectively.
• It is a form of group influence.
(i) Group members feel less responsible for the overall tasks being performed and therefore exert less effort.
(ii) Motivation of members may decrease because they realize that their contributions cannot be evaluated on the individual basis, so to why to work hard.
(iii) The performance of the group is not to be compared with that of the other groups.
(iv) There is improper co-ordination (or no co-ordination) among members.

III. Group polarization is a group influence which refers to the strengthening of groups initial position as a result interaction and discussion.
As a result of group discussion opinion shifts towards more extreme positions than those which they initially held.
In group polarization, it has been found that groups are more likely to take extreme decisions than individuals alone. Group polarization occurs due to the following factors:
(i) In the company of like-minded people, people are likely to hear newer arguments favouring their view-points.
(ii) When people find others also favouring their view-point, they feel that their view is validated by the public. This is a sort of bandwagon effect.
(iii) When people find others having similar views, they are likely to perceive them as in-group.

Question. How can you reduce social loafing in groups? Think of any two incidents of social loafing in school. How did you overcome it?
Answer. Social loading is a negative group influence. Which occurs due to defusion of responsibility. For the quality performance of the group, it should be reduced. It can be reduced through the following methods:
(i) By making the efforts of each person identifiable.
(ii) increasing the pressure to work hard (making group-members committed to successful tasks performance).
(iii) increasing the apparent importance or value of a task.
(iv) making people feel that their individual contribution is important.
(v) strengthening group cohesiveness which increases the motivation for successful group outcome.

Question. How often do you show conformity in your behaviour? What are the determinants of conformity?
Answer. Conformity: It is a most indirect form of social influence in which individuals change their behaviour or beliefs to correspond more closely to the behaviour of others in the group. It essentially involves yielding to group pressure.
• People conform because it is comfortable.
• Non-conformity is socially undesirable and many a times punishable offence.
• Most people believe that majority is always right, so it is better to conform.
• Whenever individual gets confused and not confident he/she conforms.
• Conformity provides assurance that individual is right.

People conform because of two types of influences:
1. Informational Influence, i.e., influence that results from accepting evidence rather than reality.
• It is social influence based on individuals desire to be correct—to possess accurate perceptions of the social world.
We conform because we have a strong desire to hold the right views. We want to be correct about various matters so we turn to other persons for guidance as to what is appropriate. e.g., if children see that, in the colony, no body is playing in the park then they get information from the actions of others that park should not be used as playground. This is behaving according to evidence then from reality.
2. Normative influence, i.e., influence based on a person’s desire to be accepted or admired by others. Individual follows the reality and conforms. We conform in order to meet other’s expectations and so to gain their approval. e.g., if we see rules written on the board outside the park that playing in the park is prohibited then children avoid playing there.
Sheriff’s experiment known as auto-kinetic effect and Asch’s experiment prove that people do get carried away by the social influence whenever taking decisions.

Determinants of Conformity:
The degree of conformity among the group-members is determined by many factors which are as follows:

1. Size of the Group:
(i) Conformity is greater when the group is small. It happens because it is easier for a deviant member to be noticed in a small group.
(ii) In a large group, if there is strong agreement among most of the members, conformity makes the majority and its norms stronger. In such a case, the minority would be more likely to conform because the group pressure would be stronger.

2. Size of the Minority: When the deviating minority size increases, the likelihood of conformity decreases.

3. Nature of the Task:
• Where there is something like a correct or an incorrect answer, conformity is more.
• Where answers can vary widely without any answer being correct or incorrect, conformity would be less.

4. Public or Private Expression of Behaviour:
• If the group-members are asked to give their answers publicly, conformity is more.
• Less conformity is found under private expression.

5. Personality Characteristics:
• Some individuals have a conforming personality that is tendency to change their behaviour according to what others say or do in most situations and viceversa.

Question. Why do people obey even when they know that their behaviour may be harming others?
Explain. 
Answer. Obedience: It is most direct form of social influence. Obedience refers to accepting commands/orders from the authority. Authority refers to a person who has inherent
power to give reward or punishment.
If a person has power over another, obedience can be demanded; such a person usually has the means to enforce orders.
• Milligram’s studies seem to suggest that the ordinary people are willing, may be with some reluctance, to harm an innocent person if ordered by someone in authority.
It has been observed that obedience to authority relieves the individual from the responsibility of their actions.
• Individual believes that if he/she will not obey then it will attract penalty.
• Authority commands for destructive obedience are gradually increased from lesser to greater levels of violence.
Sometimes events involved in destructive obedience move so quickly, that the people obeying orders have little time for thinking logically.

Question. What are the benefits of co-operation?
Answer. Groups may be co-operative or competitive. Technically, the behaviour that yields maximal joint profit for all the parties involved is called co-operation. The behaviour that yields maximal relative gain is labelled competition.
• Co-operative goals are those, which are defined in such a way that each individual can attain the goal if other members are also attaining their goals. There is interdependence in goal attainment.
Effects of co-operation:
• Goal achievement becomes easy.
• Interpersonal relations get strengthened.
• Cohesiveness rises in the group.
• Group-members become ready to work for others.
• Willingness to accept other’s divergent view-point.

Question. How is one’s identify formed?
Answer.
• Identity refers to the aspect of one’s self-concept that is based on group-membership.
• Our identity tells us what we are in a larger context.
• After one develops an identity, he/she internalises the norms emphasized in a group and adopts them.
• Identity provides a member of a group with a shared set of values, beliefs and goals about the social world.
• Identity helps to co-ordinate attitude and behaviour.
• The development of identity leads to the devaluation of the out group.

Question. What are some of the causes of intergroup conflict? Think of any international conflict.
Reflect on the human price of this conflict.
Answer.
• Conflict is a process in which either an individual or a group perceives that the others have opposite interest, and both try to contradict each other.
• In such conflicts intense feeling of ‘We’ and ‘They’ dominate.
• Both the groups believe that only their group (in group) will protect their interest.
Individual group conflict occurs when the individuals, needs are different from the group’s needs, goals or norms. Intergroup conflict refers to the situation of conflict between groups. It often occurs to maintain the identity of the group different and stronger than the other groups.

Some Major Reasons for Group Conflicts:
1. One major reason is lack of communication and faulty communication between both parties. This kind of communication leads to suspicion, i.e., there is a lack of trust, and hence, conflict results.
2. Another reason for intergroup conflict is relative deprivation. It arises when members of a group compare themselves with the members of another group, and perceive that they do not have what they desire to have, which the other group has. In other words, they feel that they are not doing well in comparison to other groups. This may lead to feelings of deprivation and discontentment, which may trigger conflict.
3. Another cause of conflict arises when one party believes that it is better than the other, and what it is saying should be done. When this does not happen, both parties start accusing each other.
4. A feeling that the other group does not respect the norms of my group, and actually violates those norms, can cause conflict
5. Desire for retaliation for some harm done in the past could be another reason for conflict.
6. Biased perceptions are at the root of most conflicts.
7. Research has shown that when acting in groups, people are more competitive as well as more aggressive than when they are on their own. Groups compete over scarce resource, both material resources (e.g., territory) and money as well as social resources (e.g., respect and esteem).
8. Perceived inequality is another reason for conflict.
9. According to Gardener Murphy most conflicts begin in the minds of men and then go to the field.
Gardener Murphy, in his book ‘In the Minds of Men’, explains intergroup conflicts at three levels:
(a) Structural Level: It includes high rates of poverty, economic and sound stratification, inequality, limited political and social opportunity. e.g., Tribal areas of Jharkhand and West Bengal becoming fertile ground for Naxal movement.
(b) Group Level: Social identity, realistic conflict between groups over resources and unequal power relations between groups lead to conflicts. e.g., Dalits in India or Women Empowerment Movement.
(c) Individual Level: It includes beliefs, biased attitudes and personality characteristics. These are important determinants.

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes Multiple Choice Question

Question. ___________ occurs most readily for strong responses in situations where the presence of others is motivating.
(a) Social Relationship
(b) Social facilitation
(c) Socialization
(d) None of the above
Answer. B

Question. ___________ is the term used to refer to the situation in which individuals change their beliefs or behaviours so that they become more similar to those of other group-members.
(a) Attribution
(b) Conformity
(c) Dissonance
(d) None of the above
Answer. B

Question. ___________ is a process by which information about others is converted into more or less enduring cognitions or thoughts about them.
(a) Attribution
(b) Stereotypes
(c) Impression formation
(d) None of the above
Answer. B

Question. An augmentation in behaviour due to the presence of other individuals is known as—
(a) Imitation
(b) Social facilitation
(c) Interaction
(d) None of the above
Answer. B

Question. ___________ is the process by which an individual comes to define himself in terms of his nation, social class, religious group etc.
(a) Identification
(b) Internalization
(c) Imitation
(d) Social identity
Answer. D

Question. Identification can result in ___________ or conforming to the expectations of admired persons.
(a) Internalization
(b) Imitation
(c) Modelling
(d) None of the above
Answer. C

Question. Group can form as a result of repeated interaction between the group members. T/F
Answer. True

Question. Feeling of togetherness, that keeps a group intact, is called—
(a) Norms
(b) Roles
(c) Status
(d) Cohesiveness
Answer. D

Question. When our behaviour and attitudes are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people is Social influence/group influence.
Answer. Social influence

Question. Social influence in the form of compliance, identification and internationalization was given by—(Sherrif/Kelman)
Answer. Kelman

Question. The pioneering experiment on conformity was carried by— (Sherrif/Tuckman)
Answer. Sherrif

Question. A collection of people around a roadside performer is an example of—
(a) Group
(b) Crowed
(c) Mob
(d) Audience
Answer. B

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes Very Short Answer Type Questions  

Question. What is a group?
Answer. A group is an organized system of two or more persons who are inter-related to perform a function, has a structured set of role relationships among its members, and has a set of norms that regulate their behaviours. e.g., family, class and playgroup.

Question. What is a crowd?
Answer. Crowd is a collection of people who may be present at a place or situation by chance.There is neither any structure nor feeling of belongingness in a crowd.
For example, suppose you are going on the road and an accident takes place. Soon a large number of people tend to collect; this is an example of crowd.

Question. What is a team?
Answer. Teams are special kinds of groups. Members of teams often have complementary skills and are committed to a common goal or purpose. Members are mutually accountable for there is a positive synergy attained through the co-ordinated efforts of the members. e.g., sports like cricket and football are examples of teams.

Question. What is an audience?
Answer. An audience is a collection of people who have assembled for a special purpose. e.g., people gathered to watch a cricket match or a movie.

Question. What is a mob?
Answer. In mobs, there is a definite sense of purpose. There is a polarization in attention, and actions of persons are in a common direction. Behaviour of mob is characterized by homogeneity of thought and behaviour as well as impulsivity.

Question. What is cohesiveness?
Answer. Cohesiveness refers to togetherness, binding, or mutual attraction among groupmembers.
As the group becomes more cohesive, group-members start to think, feel and act as a social unit and less like isolated individuals.

Question. What is social influence?
Answer. Social influence is an effort by one or more individuals to change the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions or behaviours of one or more others. For example, radio and television commercials, magazines, teachers, parents and friends; frequently create one or the other kind of social influence.

Question. What is social loafing?
Answer. Social loafing can be defined as reductions in motivation and effort when individuals work collectively in a group, compared to when they work individually.

Question. What is bandwagon effect?
Answer. When people find that others are favouring their view-point, they feel that their view is validated by the public also. This is a sort of Bandwagon effect.

Question. What is social facilitation?
Answer. Social facilitation refers to positive influence due to presence of other. In general, social facilitation stems from – concerns over being judged by others (which is often arousing) and self-presentation – looking good in front of others, and not only due to the mere presence of others.

Question. What are the main differences between groups and teams?
Answer. (i) In groups, performance is dependent on contributions of individual members. In teams, both individual contributions and teamwork matter.
(ii) In groups, the leader or whoever is heading the group holds responsibility for the work. However, in teams, although there is a leader, members hold themselves responsible.

Question. What is super-ordinate goal?
Answer. Super-ordinate goal refers to a higher and more important goal that is normally pursued by individuals within a group and such goals are beneficial for both the parties. Research often shows that prejudice between groups can be reduced, at least temporarily, if both groups are involved in pursuing such a common goal. For example, in times of war, many social prejudices would be put aside as people join forces against a common enemy.

Question. How group influences are different from social influences?
Answer. In group influences, real presence of people is essential. These are social facilitation, social loafing and group polarization; whereas, in social influences, presence of people may be real or may be imaginary. These are conformity, compliance and obedience.

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes Short Answer Type Questions

Question. What is social identity?
Answer. Social identity refers to a person’s definition of who he or she is, including personal attributes such as self-concept, and attributes shared with others, such as gender and race.
Some aspects of identity are determined by physical characteristics. Other aspects may develop as a consequence of interaction with others in the society.
Social identity is that aspect of our self-concept which is based on in-group membership.It tells us our position, status and behaviour towards the group.
Strong social identity leads to in-group—out-group categorization and we start showing favouritism towards in-group by rating it more favourably and by devaluating outgroup.It means strong social identity leads to prejudices and intergroup conflicts.

Question. Differentiate between primary and secondary groups.
Answer. Primary Groups:
(i) Primary groups are pre-existing formations which are usually given to the individual. e.g., family, caste and religion.
(ii) Face-to-face interaction, members have close physical proximity, and they share warm emotional bonds.
(iii) They are central to individual’s functioning and have a very major role in developing values and ideals of the individual during the early stages of development.
Secondary Group:
(i) Secondary groups are those which the individual joins by choice. e.g., a hobby group, political party or one’s nation.
(ii) In secondary groups, relationships among its members are more impersonal, indirect and less frequent.
(iii) The members usually come together for a common goal and work according to the agreed rules.

Question. What is co-operation?
Answer. (i) While shared goals are usually adopted by the members of a group, not all members may be committed to the same extent. The way shared goals are defined is important for the structure of the group.
(ii) Technically, the behaviour that yields maximal joint profit for all the parties involved is called co-operation.
(iii) In a co-operative situation, individuals are more willing to accept each other’s views and ideas since each individual is considered as a helper to the other. Co-operative goals, therefore, contribute directly to the emergence of mutually inter-related roles.

Question. What are the determinants of co-operation and competition?
Answer. Co-operation or competition depends on the reward structure.
1. Co-operative reward structure is one in which there is interdependence in the group functioning. Each one in the group is beneficiary of the reward. For example, nowadays co-operative reward structure is common in corporate world.
Competitive reward structure is one in which one can get a reward only if others do not get it.
2. Interpersonal Communications: Good interpersonal communication leads to co-operation. Communication leads to interaction and discussion. It leads to cooperation and cohesiveness.
3. Reciprocity: People feel obliged to return what they get, i.e., co-operation leads to co-operation. Competition provokes competition. If someone is trying to attain the goal to reward himself by depriving others, then others will do the same.

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes Short Answer Type Questions

Question. What are the characteristics of a group?
Answer. (a) Group is a social unit consisting of two or more individuals who perceive themselves as members of the group.
(b) Individuals must interact with each other either directly or indirectly.
(c) Individuals must be interdependent—what one is doing must have some consequence on the other.
(d) The members of a group have common motives and goals. Group functions as a unitary system. All members work towards the same goal.
(e) Members should follow group structure, i.e., status, role, norms and cohesiveness.
(f) Group has a leader who is responsible to attain the goal.

Question. What are the important elements of group structure?
Answer.
(i) Status: It refers to the position or rank within a group. Different roles or positions in a group are associated with different levels of status. Members of groups which are high in status are viewed favourably by others. For example– the captain of a cricket team has a higher status compared to the other members, although all are equally important for the team’s success.
(ii) Role is set of behaviours which the individuals occupying specific position within a group are expected to perform. e.g., father as a bread-earner.
(iii) Norms: Norms are expected standards of behaviour and beliefs established, agreed upon and enforced by group-members. e.g., in family, there are norms which guide the behaviour of family-members.
(iv) Cohesiveness: All forces (factors) that cause group-members to remain in the group, such as liking for the other members and the desire to maintain or increase one’s status by belonging to the ‘right groups’.

Question. What are the factors influencing cohesiveness?
Answer. The factors influencing cohesiveness are:
• Attractiveness: It includes dimensions like:
(a) attraction of the members to each other;
(b) attraction of the individual members towards the activities and functions of the group; and
(c) the extent to which the individual is attracted to the group as a means of satisfying his/her own needs.
• Amount of Effort: The amount of effort required to gain entry into the group, influences group cohesiveness. More the effort made for joining the group, higher would be attraction of members towards the group.
• External Threats and Severe Competition: Group cohesiveness increases in face of threats from outside the group such as loss of privileges, violence, etc. It helps in providing togetherness at the times of danger.
• Group Belongingness: It implies the emotional attachment among the groupmembers.
The interpersonal ties between group members lead to cohesiveness.

Question. Differentiate between conformity, compliance and obedience.
Answer. Conformity, compliance and obedience—all three have a common factor; they indicate the influence of others on an individual’s behaviour, but all the three are significantly
different.
Obedience is the most direct form of social influence in which one person simply orders one or more others to perform some action.
Compliance is less direct than obedience. It is a form of social influence involving direct request from one person to another.
Conformity is the most indirect form because the individuals change their behaviours or attitude in order to adhere to existing social norms.

Question. How Kelman has classified social influences?
Answer. According to Kelmans following are the social influences:
Compliance: A form of social influence in which one person attempts to influence another in order to get them comply with a request.
1. Identification:
• A type of social influence which is brought about by a person’s desire to be like another person or to be a part of a particular group.
• It may not give us rewards but it is satisfying to be like those with whom we are identifying.
• This is identity seeking or agreement seeking social influence.
2. Internalization:
• It is a type of social influence which is born out of desire to be right in our values and opinions.
• If we consider another person as trustworthy and also of good judgment, then we are more likely to accept their opinion and values and to integrate them into our own.
• It is information-seeking social influence.

Question. What is group think? 
Answer.
• Group think is a consequence of extreme cohesiveness. So the members never criticise the leader and try to defend him.
• Group think is the name given to the tendency for certain types of group to reach decisions that are extreme and which tend to be unwise or unrealistic.
• Group-members may ignore or discount information that is inconsistent with their chosen decision and express strong disapproval against any group-member who might disagree.
• The eventual decisions are taken without criticism. The social and political consequences of group think may be far-reaching, and history has many examples of major blunders that have been the results of decisions reached in this way.
Following steps can be taken to reduce it:
• Encouraging and rewarding critical thinking. e.g., ‘Best criticism award’.
• Encouraging groups to present alternative courses of action.
• Making outside expert to evaluate group decisions.

Question. What is compliance? What techniques can be used for gaining compliance?
Answer. Compliance: It is a form of social influence which refers to accepting request made by some one. Following techniques are used for gaining compliance:
(i) 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 of the other person has already complied with the smaller request, he or she may feel uncomfortable refusing the second request. e.g., 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.
(ii) The ‘Deadline’ Technique: In this technique, a ‘last date’ is announced till which a particular product or ‘an offer’ will be available.
(iii) 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 than the one that was actually desired, is made, which is usually granted by the person. e.g., a child may ask for permission to attend a night party with friends and coming back at 3 a.m. in the morning knowing very well that this request will not be granted by the parents. After a lot of efforts and persuasion, he may request to get permission for attending the party and coming back home by 11 p.m. which now may be very happily accepted by the parents.

Question. What is prisoner’s dilemma? Explain.
Answer. Prisoner’s dilemma is a hypothetical game scenario that is meant to demonstrate the dilemma of reconciling individual interests and well-being with collective interests and well-being.
It focuses on situations in which each person can increase his/her individual gain by acting in one way, but if all (or most) persons do the same thing, the outcomes experienced by all are reduced.
The game shows how well-meaning people can become trapped in mutually destructive behaviour, when all would benefit from co-operation. The game examines the story of two police suspects who are thought to be guilty of some major offence. However, the police had only enough evidence to convict each of them for some minor offence. The police need one or both of the suspects to confess and offer each an incentive to confess in private. If one confesses and the other does not, the police will grant the confessor immunity and convict the other of the major offence. If both confess, they will be charged with a lesser offence and both will receive moderate jail sentences. If, however, neither confesses, the police will only be able to charge with the minor offence. The possible outcomes of each decision are shown in the matrix below:

The prisoner’s dilemma has been used in the explanation of social dilemmas, and of altruistic behaviour, particularly that involving reciprocity. It demonstrates how the collective well-being of a group can be threatened if individuals only take into consideration the individual benefits of their actions.

CBSE Class 12 Psychology Chapter 7 Social Influence and Group Processes Long Answer Type Questions 

Question. What are co-operation and competition? Discuss the effects of co-operation and competition.
Answer. Groups may be co-operative or competitive. Technically, the behaviour that yields maximal joint profit for all the parties involved is called co-operation. The behaviour that yields maximal relative gain is labelled competition.
• Co-operative goals are those, which are defined in such a way that each individual can attain the goal if other members are also attaining their goals. There is interdependence in goal attainment.
It is working together to attain the shared goals.
• Co-operative goals increase interpersonal relations among the members as they progress towards the goal.
• In co-operative groups, victory belongs to each member because of group affiliation.
• Co-operation leads to harmony, sacrifice and positive emotions.
• In co-operative groups, people communicate and develop cohesiveness.
• Competitive goals involve situations where all goals are defined in such a manner that there is only one winner and others are looser.
• Competition among individual members tend to produce disharmony and conflict that threatens the organization of group.
• Competition leads to distinct and poor interpersonal relations which cause hostility and rivalry.
• In competition, individual works to attain the goal for himself.
• Competitive group leads to lack of communication or miscommunication towards out-group.
Effects of Co-orperation:
• Goal achievement becomes easy.
• Interpersonal relations get strengthened.
• Cohesiveness rises in the group.
• Group-members become ready to work for others.
• Willingness to accept other’s divergent view-point.

Effects of Competition:
• Distance and disharmony increase in the group because of lack of communication.
• Cohesiveness within a group develops but rivalry increases with the out-group.
• Healthy competition in a conducive environment increases efficiency and sharpens the rate of growth and development.

Determinants of Co-operation and Competition:
1. Reward Structure: In co-operation, reward structure is such that there is promotive interdependence, i.e., each member is beneficiary and reward is possible only if all contribute.In competition reward structure is one in which one can get a reward only if others do not get it.
2. Interpersonal Communication: Co-operation leads to communication which facilitate interaction and discussion.
3. Reciprocity: It means people feeling obliged to return what they get. Initial cooperation leads to more co-operation whereas competition provokes more competition.

Question. Discuss conflict resolution strategies. 
Answer. (i) Introduction of Super-ordinate Goals: By introducing super-ordinate goals, intergroup conflicts can be reduced. A super-ordinate goal is mutually beneficial to both parties, hence both groups work co-operatively.
(ii) Altering Perception: Conflicts can also be reduced by altering perceptions and reactions through persuasion, educational and media appeals and portrayal of groups differently in society. Promoting empathy for others should be taught to everyone from very beginning.
(iii) Increasing Inter-group Contact: Conflict also be reduced by increasing contacts between the groups. This can be done by involving groups in conflict on neutral grounds through community projects and events.
(iv) Redrawing Group Boundaries: This can be done by creating conditions where group boundaries are redefined and groups come to perceive themselves as belonging to a common group.
(v) Negotiations: Conflict can also be resolved through negotiations, which involves arbitration, mediation and third party intervention. Warring groups can resolve conflict by trying to find mutually acceptable solutions. This requires understanding and trust.
(vi) Structural Solutions: Conflicts can also be reduced by redistributing the societal resources according to principles based on justice. e.g., equality (allocating equally to
every one) need, allocating on the basis of needs and equity (allocating on the basis of contributions of members).
(vii) Respect for Other Group’s Norms: In a pluralist society like India, it is necessary to respect and be sensitive to the strong norms of various social and ethnic groups.
It has been noticed that a number of communal riots between different groups have taken place because of such insensitivity.

Question. Discuss consequences of intergroup conflict?
Answer. Deutsch identified the following consequences of intergroup confect:
• Poor Communication: The groups do not trust each other and develop suspicion towards an other group.
• Tendency to Magnify their Differences: Each group starts perceiving their behaviour as fair and the others behaviour as unfair.
• Tendency of Each Side to Increase its Own Power and Legitimacy: This leads to intense conflict shifting from few specific issues to much larger issues.
• Increased Ingroup-Outgroup Rivalry: It leads to intense desire to retaliate and take revenge.