WEEK 4: GROUP BEHAVIOR - THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY

WEEK 4: Social Perceptions and Misperceptions Group Dynamics and the Abilene Paradox How Categorical Thinking Gives Rise to Prejudice The Minimal Group When Intergroup Biases Don't Feel Like Biases

1. Group Dynamics- intra (within) vs inter (between) group dynamics- Groupthink – decision making suffers when a cohesive group becomes insulated from dissenting viewpoints, especially when the group leader promotes a particular solution or course of action.- Irving Janis - book on Crucial Decision- Abilene Paradox - a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of many of the individuals in the group- The Abilene paradox is similar to groupthink, but differs in significant ways, including that in groupthink individuals are not acting contrary to their conscious wishes and generally feel good about the decisions the group has reached.In the Abilene paradox, the individuals acting contrary to their own wishes are more likely to have negative feelings about the outcome

2. Categorical Thinking and Prejudice- us and them- Book - The Nature of Prejudice - Allport - said that the human mind must think with the aid of categories and these categories form the basis for pre-judgement- humans naturally think in terms of categories and this gives rise to prejudice- categories - human and an apple - are very blurred and vague and sometimes impossible to distinguish- social categories are psychology and culturally constructed- The Power of Illusion video - race and skin color are minor variations which are not genetic variations, we are genetically extremely similar. Race is therefore a social & political construction the result of culture and laws, not a genetic fact

3. The Minimal Group- in-group (the group you're a member of) versus out-group- focusing on a group often:>> changes how we see individuals in the group - line length estimation experiment - people grossly overestimated the length's- Stereotyping - exaggerating some differences between groups and minimizing these differences within such groups>> we see one group as better or worse than another - never separate but equal - minimal group paradigm - - In-group Bias - tendency to favor one's own group or see it as superior - takes very little to provoke in-group bias- discrimination may develop more because of in-group bias as opposed to out-group hatred

4. Inter-group Biases- why does discrimination still exist today?>> they're attached to slow-moving institutions and systems (culture, law & economics)>> biases don't always feel like biases- Out-group homogeneity bias - tendency to see out-group members as more alike than in-group members. Reducing out-group members to a single identity is just one step away from stereotyping them - can therefore lead to discrimination. Bias will reduce or disappear or even reverse when the in-group if small- Positive stereotypes and benevolent forms of biases - e.g. Asian's are good at maths - all over generalisations and not true - most common form is sexism - e.g. men assume woman need to be protected but actually saying she is weak. Principle - you don't need to dislike a group to treat them as inferior- In-group favoritism and affinity - liking your in-group can't mean bias, can it? But it can! - green and blue dot preference example makes them all line up split down the middle, Levine example modeled after the Good Samaritan experiment but soccer this time. How can these biases be reduced - highlight shared identity

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