About Group Influence

Group Influence and Social Facilitation

One of the most essential factors is group influence. It governs how a throng of people interacts inside a group as a psychological phenomenon. It directs individual thoughts to conform to those of a group. Personal thoughts, decisions, and acts are rarely produced in solitude since they are impacted by someone in the community. The chosen instance exemplifies how group theory works in practice (Paulus, 2015). Sean, in instance, cannot profit from working alone on calculus homework but can benefit from having buddies present in class. In this case, the most significant feature of group impact is social facilitation. In particular, social facilitation is elevated arousal. From this perspective, Sean gains an opportunity of expanding his knowledge based due to the aspect of group influence. Simply, most of the people tend to do more when they are being watched rather than when they are alone (Mackie & Hamilton, 2014). Another example that can be compared to Sean case is an instance where a cyclist in bicycle race tends to ride faster when in a group. However, when cyclist is left behind, the cycling speed tends to reduce. This instance reciprocates Sean’s case.

Social Loafing and Group Influence

However, it is important to indicate that whether an individual improves or worsen performance is dependent on the exact circumstance of a group. Social loafing is a concept that elaborates this situation where an individual can still fail to work in presence of others. Social loafing indicates that when an individual is involved in additive tasks, they tend to apply less effort, which is contrary to the aspect of social facilitation. In this regard, the case highlighted is a clear indication of social facilitation, which is a key aspect of group influence.

References

Paulus, P. B. (2015). Psychology of group influence (Vol. 22). Psychology Press.

Mackie, D. M., & Hamilton, D. L. (Eds.). (2014). Affect, cognition and stereotyping: Interactive processes in group perception. Academic Press.