Exam 9: Group Processes: Influence in Social Groups

Recall that Robert Zajonc and his colleagues (1969)employed the lowly cockroach in their studies of social facilitation.In the presence of other cockroaches,roaches would run faster down a straightaway to escape a bright light than they would alone,but took longer in the presence of a cockroach audience when the escape route was more complicated (i.e.,when they had to run a maze).These findings support the idea that

Fred Fiedler's (1967,1978)contingency theory of leadership posits that "moderate control" situations call for a relationship-oriented leader.By this he means that a relationship-oriented leader is needed when

In order to avoid the phenomenon of groupthink,the leader of a group should

Shelley was initially moderately in favor of a proposal to build a city bike path.At a meeting,she learns that not only will the path provide recreational opportunities and allow for some decrease in traffic,but that in towns with paths,the crime rate tends to go down and businesses along the path do better.She is now strongly in favor of the proposal.The theory that best explains her change of opinion is the ____ theory.

In order to predict whether the presence of others will help or hinder performance,one needs two pieces of information: whether ____ and whether ____.

One reason why the presence of others is arousing is that it can be ____,which is a very cognitive explanation as to why people tend to perform worse at more difficult tasks in the presence of others.

Group cohesiveness is almost always positively correlated with all of the following except

What is a social dilemma? Provide examples of some particular kinds of social dilemmas,and discuss how social dilemmas can be resolved.

Compared to individuals deciding alone,members of groups tend to make decisions that are

____ leaders set clear,short-term goals and reward followers who meet them; ____ leaders inspire followers to focus on common long-term goals.

The reason why the presence of other people can enhance performance on simple or well-learned tasks is that it is

Robert Zajonc (1965)wrote an influential article in which he posited a theoretical explanation for the social facilitation effect.Elegantly simple,this explanation included two steps:

You are a member of a team of detectives and police investigators who are trying to solve a crime.Based on information in your text about information sharing in groups,what would be the best way for your team to discuss the crime and solve it accurately?

You work for a software manufacturer,and the supervisor of your division has just informed your work team that the new software designed to give people access to the World Wide Web keeps crashing.Your supervisor is under a deadline to detect the source of the problem and fix it,so he assigns you and four other employees to a "bug detector" group to find the problem and correct it.What will determine whether or not your group succeeds?

Which of the following is not a benefit associated with groups,according to the authors of your text?

Social facilitation and social loafing are two very different phenomena that occur in the presence of other people.When does each occur,and what determines whether performance is enhanced or diminished?

A(n) ____ leader is more concerned with getting the job done than with the feelings of and relationships between workers.

A(n) ____ leader is primarily concerned with workers' feelings and relationships with one another.

According to the authors of your text,women in leadership positions are in a double bind: If they conform to social expectations about how to behave and are warm and communal,they may be seen as having low leadership potential; then,when they are given the opportunity to lead and they ____,they are perceived negatively.

Presently,there are three main ideas as to why the presence of others leads to greater arousal.Which of the following is not one of the three explanations presented in your book? The presence of others