social influence and group...

SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND GROUP PROCESSESSOCIAL INFLUENCE AND GROUP PROCESSESSOCIAL INFLUENCE AND GROUP PROCESSESSOCIAL INFLUENCE AND GROUP PROCESSESSOCIAL INFLUENCE AND GROUP PROCESSES

IntroductionNature and Formation of Groups

Groupthink (Box 7.1)Type of Groups

The Minimal Group Paradigm Experiments (Box 7.2)Influence of Group on Individual Behaviour

Social LoafingGroup Polarisation

Conformity, Compliance, and ObedienceThe Autokinetic Effect (Box 7.3)Group Pressure and Conformity : The Asch Experiment (Box 7.4)

Cooperation and CompetitionSherif’s Summer Camp Experiments (Box 7.5)Determinants of Cooperation and Competition

Social IdentityIntergroup Conflict : Nature and CausesConflict Resolution Strategies

CONTENTS

Key TermsSummaryReview QuestionsProject IdeasWeblinksPedagogical Hints

After reading this chapter, you would be able to:understand the nature and types of groups and know how they are formed,examine the influence of group on individual behaviour,describe the process of cooperation and competition,reflect on the importance of social identity, andunderstand the nature of intergroup conflict and examine conflict resolution strategies.

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NATURE AND FORMATION OF GROUPS

What is a Group?

The preceding introduction illustrates theimportance of groups in our lives. Onequestion that comes to mind is: “How aregroups (e.g., your family, class, and thegroup with which you play) different fromother collections of people?” For example,people who have assembled to watch acricket match or your school function areat one place, but are not interdependenton each other. They do not have definedroles, status and expectations from eachother. In the case of your family, class, andthe group with which you play, youwill realise that there is mutualinterdependence, each member has roles,there are status differentials, and there areexpectations from each other. Thus, your

Think about your day-to-day life and the various social interactions youhave. In the morning, before going to school, you interact with your familymembers; in school, you discuss topics and issues with your teachers andclassmates; and after school you phone up, visit or play with your friends.In each of these instances, you are part of a group which not only providesyou the needed support and comfort but also facilitates your growth anddevelopment as an individual. Have you ever been away to a place whereyou were without your family, school, and friends? How did you feel? Didyou feel there was something vital missing in your life? Our lives are influenced by the nature of group membership we have. Itis, therefore, important to be part of groups which would influence uspositively and help us in becoming good citizens. In this chapter, we shalltry to understand what groups are and how they influence our behaviour.At this point, it is also important to acknowledge that not only do othersinfluence us, but we, as individuals, are also capable of changing othersand the society. The benefits of cooperation and competition and how theyinfluence our personal and social lives will also be examined. We will alsosee how identity develops — how we come to know ourselves. Similarly,we would try to understand why sometimes group conflicts arise; examinethe perils of group conflict and apprise ourselves of various conflict resolutionstrategies so that we are able to contribute towards making a harmoniousand cohesive society.

Introduction

family, class and playgroup are examplesof groups and are different from othercollections of people.

A group may be defined as an organisedsystem of two or more individuals, who areinteracting and interdependent, who havecommon motives, have a set of rolerelationships among its members, and havenorms that regulate the behaviour of itsmembers. Groups have the following salientcharacteristics :• A social unit consisting of two or more

individuals who perceive themselvesas belonging to the group. Thischaracteristic of the group helps indistinguishing one group from theother and gives the group its uniqueidentity.

• A collection of individuals who havecommon motives and goals. Groups

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function either working towards a givengoal, or away from certain threatsfacing the group.

• A collection of individuals who areinterdependent, i.e. what one is doingmay have consequences for others.Suppose one of the fielders in a cricketteam drops an important catch duringa match — this will have consequencefor the entire team.

• Individuals who are trying to satisfy aneed through their joint associationalso influence each other.

• A gathering of individuals who interactwith one another either directly orindirectly.

• A collection of individuals whoseinteractions are structured by a set ofroles and norms. This means that thegroup members perform the samefunctions every time the group meetsand the group members adhere togroup norms. Norms tell us how weought to behave in the group andspecify the behaviours expected fromgroup members.Groups can be differentiated from other

collections of people. For example, a crowd

is also a collection of people who may bepresent at a place/situation by chance.Suppose you are going on the road and anaccident takes place. Soon a large numberof people tend to collect. This is an exampleof a crowd. There is neither any structurenor feeling of belongingness in a crowd.Behaviour of people in crowds is irrationaland there is no interdependence amongmembers.

Teams are special kinds of groups.Members of teams often have comple-mentary skills and are committed to acommon goal or purpose. Members aremutually accountable for their activities. Inteams, there is a positive synergy attainedthrough the coordinated efforts of themembers. The main differences betweengroups and teams are:• In groups, performance is dependent

on contributions of individualmembers. In teams, both individualcontributions and teamwork matter.

• In groups, the leader or whoever isheading the group holds responsibilityfor the work. However in teams,although there is a leader, membershold themselves responsible.

Fig.7.1 : Look at these Two PicturesPicture A shows a football team — a group in which members interact with one another, have roles andgoals. Picture B depicts an audience watching the football match — a mere collection of people who bysome coincidence (may be their interest in football) happened to be in the same place at the same time.

Picture A Picture B

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An audience is also a collection ofpeople who have assembled for a specialpurpose, may be to watch a cricket matchor a movie. Audiences are generally passivebut sometimes they go into a frenzy andbecome mobs. In mobs, there is a definitesense of purpose. There is polarisation inattention, and actions of persons are in acommon direction. Mob behaviour ischaracterised by homogeneity of thoughtand behaviour as well as impulsivity.

Why Do People Join Groups?

All of you are members of your family,class and groups with which you interactor play. Similarly, other people are alsomembers of a number of groups at anygiven time. Dif ferent groups satisfydifferent needs, and therefore, we aresimultaneously members of differentgroups. This sometimes creates pressuresfor us because there may be competingdemands and expectations. Most often weare able to handle these competingdemands and expectations. People joingroups because these groups satisfy arange of needs. In general, people joingroups for the following reasons :• Security : When we are alone, we feel

insecure. Groups reduce thisinsecurity. Being with people gives asense of comfort, and protection. As aresult, people feel stronger, and are lessvulnerable to threats.

• Status : When we are members of agroup that is perceived to be importantby others, we feel recognised andexperience a sense of power. Supposeyour school wins in an inter -institutional debate competition, youfeel proud and think that you are betterthan others.

• Self-esteem : Groups provide feelings ofself-worth and establish a positive socialidentity. Being a member of prestigiousgroups enhances one’s self-concept.

• Satisfaction of one’s psychologicaland social needs : Groups satisfy one’ssocial and psychological needs such assense of belongingness, giving andreceiving attention, love, and powerthrough a group.

• Goal achievement : Groups help inachieving such goals which cannot beattained individually. There is power inthe majority.

• Provide knowledge and information :Group membership provides knowledgeand information and thus broadens ourview. As individuals, we may not haveall the required information. Groupssupplement this information andknowledge.

Group Formation

In this section, we will see how groups areformed. Basic to group formation is somecontact and some form of interactionbetween people. This interaction isfacilitated by the following conditions:• Proximity : Just think about your

group of friends. Would you have beenfriends if you were not living in thesame colony, or going to the sameschool, or may be playing in the sameplayground? Probably your answerwould be ‘No’. Repeated interactionswith the same set of individuals give usa chance to know them, and theirinterests and attitudes. Commoninterests, attitudes, and backgroundare important determinants of yourliking for your group members.

• Similarity : Being exposed to someoneover a period of time makes us assessour similarities and paves the way forformation of groups. Why do we likepeople who are similar? Psychologistshave given several explanations for this.One explanation is that people preferconsistency and like relationships thatare consistent. When two people are


similar, there is consistency and theystart liking each other. For example,you like playing football and anotherperson in your class also loves playingfootball; there is a matching of yourinterests. There are higher chances thatyou may become friends. Anotherexplanation given by psychologists isthat when we meet similar people, theyreinforce and validate our opinions andvalues, we feel we are right and thus westart liking them. Suppose you are ofthe opinion that too much watching oftelevision is not good, because it showstoo much violence. You meet someonewho also has similar views. Thisvalidates your opinion, and you startliking the person who was instrumentalin validating your opinion.

• Common motives and goals : Whenpeople have common motives or goals,they get together and form a groupwhich may facilitate their goalattainment. Suppose you want to teachchildren in a slum area who are unableto go to school. You cannot do thisalone because you have your ownstudies and homework. You, therefore,form a group of like-minded friends andstart teaching these children. So youhave been able to achieve what youcould not have done alone.

Stages of Group Formation

Remember that, like everything else in life,groups develop. You do not become agroup member the moment you cometogether. Groups usually go throughdifferent stages of formation, conflict,stabilisation, performance, and dismissal.Tuckman suggested that groups passthrough five developmental sequences.These are: forming, storming, norming,performing and adjourning.• When group members first meet, there

is a great deal of uncertainty about the

group, the goal, and how it is to beachieved. People try to know each otherand assess whether they will fit in.There is excitement as well asapprehensions. This stage is called theforming stage.

• Often, after this stage, there is a stageof intragroup conflict which is referredto as storming. In this stage, there isconflict among members about how thetarget of the group is to be achieved,who is to control the group and itsresources, and who is to perform whattask. When this stage is complete, somesort of hierarchy of leadership in thegroup develops and a clear vision as tohow to achieve the group goal.

• The storming stage is followed byanother stage known as norming.Group members by this time developnorms related to group behaviour. Thisleads to development of a positive groupidentity.

• The fourth stage is performing. By thistime, the structure of the group hasevolved and is accepted by groupmembers. The group moves towardsachieving the group goal. For somegroups, this may be the last stage ofgroup development.

• However, for some groups, for example,in the case of an organising committee

Activity7.1

Identifying Stages of GroupFormation

Select 10 members from your classrandomly and form a committee toplan an open house. See how they goahead. Give them full autonomy to doall the planning. Other members of theclass observe them as they function.

Do you see any of these stagesemerging? Which were those? Whatwas the order of stages? Which stageswere skipped?

Discuss in the class.

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for a school function, there may beanother stage known as adjourningstage. In this stage, once the functionis over, the group may be disbanded.

However, it must be stated that allgroups do not always proceed from onestage to the next in such a systematicmanner. Sometimes several stages go onsimultaneously, while in other instancesgroups may go back and forth through thevarious stages or they may just skip someof the stages.

During the process of group formation,groups also develop a structure. We shouldremember that group structure developsas members interact. Over time thisinteraction shows regularities indistribution of task to be performed,responsibilities assigned to members, andthe prestige or relative status of members.

Four important elements of groupstructure are :• Roles are socially defined expectations

that individuals in a given situation areexpected to fulfil. Roles refer to thetypical behaviour that depicts a personin a given social context. You have therole of a son or a daughter and with thisrole, there are certain role expectations,i.e. including the behaviour expected ofsomeone in a particular role. As adaughter or a son, you are expected torespect elders, listen to them, and beresponsible towards your studies.

• Norms are expected standards ofbehaviour and beliefs established,agreed upon, and enforced by groupmembers. They may be considered asa group’s ‘unspoken rules’. In yourfamily, there are norms that guide thebehaviour of family members. These

Box7.1 Groupthink

Generally teamwork in groups leads to beneficial results. However, Irving Janis has suggestedthat cohesion can interfere with effective leadership and can lead to disastrous decisions.Janis discovered a process known as “groupthink” in which a group allows its concerns forunanimity. They, in fact, “override the motivation to realistically appraise courses of action”.It results in the tendency of decision makers to make irrational and uncritical decisions.Groupthink is characterised by the appearance of consensus or unanimous agreementwithin a group. Each member believes that all members agree upon a particular decisionor a policy. No one expresses dissenting opinion because each person believes it wouldundermine the cohesion of the group and s/he would be unpopular. Studies have shownthat such a group has an exaggerated sense of its own power to control events, and tendsto ignore or minimise cues from the real world that suggest danger to its plan. In order topreserve the group’s internal harmony and collective well-being, it becomes increasinglyout-of-touch with reality. Groupthink is likely to occur in socially homogenous, cohesivegroups that are isolated from outsiders, that have no tradition of considering alternatives,and that face a decision with high costs or failures. Examples of several group decisions atthe international level can be cited as illustrations of groupthink phenomenon. Thesedecisions turned out to be major fiascos. The Vietnam War is an example. From 1964 to1967, President Lyndon Johnson and his advisors in the U.S. escalated the Vietnam Warthinking that this would bring North Vietnam to the peace table. The escalation decisionswere made despite warnings. The grossly miscalculated move resulted in the loss of 56,000American and more than one million Vietnamese lives and created huge budget deficits.Some ways to counteract or prevent groupthink are: (i) encouraging and rewarding criticalthinking and even disagreement among group members, (ii) encouraging groups to presentalternative courses of action, (iii) inviting outside experts to evaluate the group’s decisions,and (iv) encouraging members to seek feedback from trusted others.


norms represent shared ways ofviewing the world.

• Status refers to the relative socialposition given to group members byothers. This relative position or statusmay be either ascribed (given may bebecause of one’s seniority) or achieved(the person has achieved statusbecause of expertise or hard work). Bybeing members of the group, we enjoythe status associated with that group.All of us, therefore, strive to bemembers of such groups which arehigh in status or are viewed favourablyby others. Even within a group,dif ferent members have dif ferentprestige and status. For example, thecaptain of a cricket team has a higherstatus compared to the other members,although all are equally important forthe team’s success.

• Cohesiveness refers to togetherness,binding, or mutual attraction amonggroup members. As the group becomesmore cohesive, group members start tothink, feel and act as a social unit, andless like isolated individuals. Membersof a highly cohesive group have agreater desire to remain in the group incomparison to those who belong to lowcohesive groups. Cohesiveness refers tothe team spirit or ‘we feeling’ or a senseof belongingness to the group. It isdifficult to leave a cohesive group or togain membership of a group which ishighly cohesive. Extreme cohesivenesshowever, may sometimes not be in agroup’s interest. Psychologists haveidentified the phenomenon ofgroupthink (see Box 7.1) which is aconsequence of extreme cohesiveness.

TYPE OF GROUPS

Groups differ in many respects; some havea large number of members (e.g., acountry), some are small (e.g., a family),

some are short-lived (e.g., a committee),some remain together for many years (e.g.,religious groups), some are highlyorganised (e.g., army, police, etc.), andothers are informally organised (e.g.,spectators of a match). People may belongto different types of group. Major types ofgroups are enumerated below :• primary and secondary groups• formal and informal groups• ingroup and outgroup.

Primary and Secondary Groups

A major difference between primary andsecondary groups is that primary groupsare pre-existing formations which areusually given to the individual whereassecondary groups are those which theindividual joins by choice. Thus, family,caste, and religion are primary groupswhereas membership of a political party isan example of a secondary group. In aprimary group, there is a face-to-faceinteraction, members have close physicalproximity, and they share warm emotionalbonds. Primary groups are central toindividual’s functioning and have a verymajor role in developing values and idealsof the individual during the early stages ofdevelopment. In contrast, secondarygroups are those where relationshipsamong members are more impersonal,indirect, and less frequent. In the primarygroup, boundaries are less permeable, i.e.members do not have the option to chooseits membership as compared to secondarygroups where it is easy to leave and joinanother group.

Formal and Informal Groups

These groups differ in the degree to whichthe functions of the group are statedexplicitly and formally. The functions of aformal group are explicitly stated as in thecase of an office organisation. The roles tobe performed by group members are stated

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in an explicit manner. The formal andinformal groups differ on the basis ofstructure. The formation of formal groupsis based on some specific rules or laws andmembers have definite roles. There are aset of norms which help in establishingorder. A university is an example of aformal group. On the other hand, theformation of informal groups is not basedon rules or laws and there is closerelationship among members.

Ingroup and Outgroup

Just as individuals compare themselveswith others in terms of similarities anddifferences with respect to what they haveand what others have, individuals alsocompare the group they belong to withgroups of which they are not a member.The term ‘ingroup’ refers to one’s owngroup, and ‘outgroup’ refers to anothergroup. For ingroup members, we use theword ‘we’ while for outgroup members, theword ‘they’ is used. By using the wordsthey and we, one is categorising people assimilar or different. It has been found thatpersons in the ingroup are generallysupposed to be similar, are viewedfavourably, and have desirable traits.Members of the outgroup are viewed

differently and are often perceived negativelyin comparison to the ingroup members.Perceptions of ingroup and outgroup affectour social lives. These differences can beeasily understood by studying Tajfel’sexperiments given in Box 7.2.

Although it is common to make thesecategorisations, it should be appreciatedthat these categories are not real and arecreated by us. In some cultures, pluralityis celebrated as has been the case in India.We have a unique composite culture whichis reflected not only in the lives we live, butalso in our art, architecture, and music.

Box7.2 The Minimal Group Paradigm Experiments

Tajfel and his colleagues were interested in knowing the minimal conditions for intergroupbehaviour. ‘Minimal group paradigm’ was developed to answer this question. British school-boys expressed their preference for paintings by two artists — Vassily Kandinsky and PaulKlee. Children were told that it was an experiment on decision-making. They knew thegroups in which they were grouped (Kandinsky group and Klee group). The identity of othergroup members was hidden using code numbers. The children then distributed moneybetween recipients only by code number and group membership.

Sample distribution matrix :Ingroup member — 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19Outgroup member — 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25

You will agree that these groups were created on a flimsy criterion (i.e. preference forpaintings by two artists) which had no past history or future. Yet, results showed thatchildren favoured their own group.

Activity7.2

Ingroup and OutgroupDistinctions

Think of any interinstitutionalcompetition held in the near past. Askyour friends to write a paragraphabout your school and its students,and about another school andstudents of that school. Ask the classand list the behaviour andcharacteristics of your schoolmates,and students of the other school onthe board. Observe the differencesand discuss in the class. Do you alsosee similarities? If yes, discuss themtoo.


INFLUENCE OF GROUP ON INDIVIDUAL

BEHAVIOUR

We have seen that groups are powerful asthey are able to influence the behaviour ofindividuals. What is the nature of thisinfluence? What impact does the presenceof others have on our performance? We willdiscuss two situations : (i) an individualperforming an activity alone in thepresence of others (social facilitation),and (ii) an individual performing an activityalong with the others as part of a largergroup (social loafing). Since socialfacilitation has been briefly discussed inChapter 6, we would try to understand thephenomenon of social loafing in thissection.

Social Loafing

Social facilitation research suggests thatpresence of others leads to arousal and canmotivate individuals to enhance theirperformance if they are already good atsolving something. This enhancementoccurs when a person’s ef forts areindividually evaluated. What would happenif efforts of an individual in a group arepooled so that you look at the performanceof the group as a whole? Do you knowwhat often happens? It has been foundthat individuals work less hard in a groupthan they do when performing alone. Thispoints to a phenomenon referred to as‘social loafing’. Social loafing is a reductionin individual effort when working on acollective task, i.e. one in which outputsare pooled with those of other groupmembers. An example of such a task is thegame of tug-of-war. It is not possible foryou to identify how much force eachmember of the team has been exerting.Such situations give opportunities to groupmembers to relax and become a free rider.This phenomenon has been demonstratedin many experiments by Latane and his

associates who asked group of malestudents to clap or cheer as loudly aspossible as they (experimenters) wereinterested in knowing how much noisepeople make in social settings. They variedthe group size; individuals were eitheralone, or in groups of two, four and six.The results of the study showed thatalthough the total amount of noise rose up,as size increased, the amount of noiseproduced by each participant dropped. Inother words, each participant put in lesseffort as the group size increased. Whydoes social loafing occur? The explanationsoffered are:• Group members feel less responsible for

the overall task being performed andtherefore exert less effort.

• Motivation of members decreasesbecause they realise that theircontributions will not be evaluated onindividual basis.

• The performance of the group is not tobe compared with other groups.

• There is an improper coordination (orno coordination) among members.

• Belonging to the same group is notimportant for members. It is only anaggregate of individuals.

Social loafing may be reduced by:• Making the efforts of each person

identifiable.• Increasing the pressure to work hard

(making group members committed tosuccessful task performance).

• Increasing the apparent importance orvalue of a task.

• Making people feel that their individualcontribution is important.

• Strengthening group cohesivenesswhich increases the motivation forsuccessful group outcome.

Group Polarisation

We all know that important decisions aretaken by groups and not by individuals

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alone. For example, a decision is to betaken whether a school has to beestablished in a village. Such a decisionhas to be a group decision. We have alsoseen that when groups take decisions,there is a fear that the phenomenon ofgroupthink may sometimes occur (seeBox 7.1). Groups show another tendencyreferred to as ‘group polarisation’. It hasbeen found that groups are more likely totake extreme decisions than individualsalone. Suppose there is an employee whohas been caught taking bribe or engagingin some other unethical act. Her/hiscolleagues are asked to decide on whatpunishment s/he should be given. Theymay let her/him go scot-free or decide toterminate her/his services instead ofimposing a punishment which may becommensurate with the unethical act s/hehad engaged in. Whatever the initialposition in the group, this position becomesmuch stronger as a result of discussions inthe group. This strengthening of the group’sinitial position as a result of groupinteraction and discussion is referred to asgroup polarisation. This may sometimeshave dangerous repercussions as groupsmay take extreme positions, i.e. from veryweak to very strong decisions.

Why does group polarisation occur? Letus take an example whether capitalpunishment should be there. Suppose youfavour capital punishment for heinouscrimes, what would happen if you wereinteracting with and discussing this issuewith like-minded people? After thisinteraction, your views may becomestronger. This firm conviction is because ofthe following three reasons:• In the company of like-minded people,

you are likely to hear newer argumentsfavouring your viewpoints. This willmake you more favourable towardscapital punishment.

• When you find others also favouringcapital punishment, you feel that this

view is validated by the public. This isa sort of bandwagon effect.

• When you find people having similarviews, you are likely to perceive themas ingroup. You start identifying withthe group, begin showing conformity,and as a consequence your viewsbecome strengthened.

Activity7.3

Assessing Polarisation

Give the class a short, 5-item attitudescale developed by your teacher toassess attitudes towards capitalpunishment. Based on their responses,divide the class into two groups, i.e.those pro-capital punishment andthose anti-capital punishment. Nowseat these groups into two differentrooms and ask them to discuss a recentcase in which death sentence has beengiven by the court. See how thediscussion proceeds in the two groups.After the discussion, re-administer theattitude scale to the group members.Examine if, in both groups, positionshave hardened in comparison to theirinitial position as a result of groupdiscussion.

CONFORMITY, COMPLIANCE, AND

OBEDIENCE

Groups and individuals exert influence onus. This influence may force us to changeour behaviours in a particular direction.The term ‘social influence’ refers to thoseprocesses whereby our attitudes andbehaviours are influenced by the real orimagined presence of other people.Throughout the day you may encounter anumber of situations where others havetried to influence you and make you thinkin ways they want. Your parents, teachers,friends, radio and television commercialscreate one or the other kind of socialinfluence. Social influence is a part of ourlife. In some situations, social influence on


us is very strong as a result of which wetend to do things which we otherwisewould have not done. On other occasions,we are able to defy influence of others andmay even influence them to adopt our ownviewpoint. This section describes threeimportant group influence processes, i.e.conformity, compliance and obedience.

Imagine the following situation in yourschool. Some of your friends come to youwith a letter of protest against a rule thathas been recently announced, i.e. banninguse of mobile phones in the school.Personally you believe that the rule is verysensible and should be enforced. But youalso know that if you do not sign the letter,you will lose many friends and get a badname for not keeping ‘student unity’. Whatwould you do in such a situation? Whatdo you think most people of your agewould do? If your answer is that you wouldagree to sign the letter, you have expresseda form of social influence called‘conformity’ which means behavingaccording to the group norm, i.e. theexpectations of other group members.Persons who do not conform (called‘deviants’ or ‘non-conformists’) get noticedmore than those who do conform.

Kelman distinguished three forms ofsocial influence, viz. compliance,identification, and internalisation. Incompliance, there are external conditionsthat force the individual to accept theinfluence of the significant other.Compliance also refers to behaving in aparticular way in response to a requestmade by someone. Thus, in the exampledescribed above, you may sign the letterwith the thought that you were acceptingthe request, not because you agree withother students, but because you have beenrequested to do so by a significant member.This would be a case of compliance alsocalled ‘external/public conformity’.Compliance could take place even without

a norm. For example, a member of acommunity group for ‘clean environment’requests you to put a sticker on your bikethat reads, ‘Say No to Plastic Bags’. Youagree to do so, not because of a groupnorm, or even because you personallybelieve in banning plastic bags, but becauseyou see no harm or problem in putting sucha sticker on your bike. At the same time,you find it easier to say ‘yes’ rather than ‘no’to such a harmless (and eventuallymeaningful) request. Identification,according to Kelman, refers to influenceprocess based on agreement-seeking oridentity-seeking. Internalisation, on theother hand, is a process based oninformation-seeking.

Yet another form of behaviour is‘obedience’. A distinguishing feature ofobedience is that such behaviour is aresponse to a person in authority. In theexample given above, you may sign theletter more readily if a senior teacher or astudent leader asks you to do so. In sucha situation, you are not necessarilyfollowing a group norm but rather carryingout an instruction or an order. The presenceof an authority figure immediately makesthis behaviour different from conformity.For instance, you may stop talking loudlyin the classroom when the teacher asks youto keep quiet, but not when your classmatetells you to do the same thing.

We can see that there are somesimilarities between conformity,compliance, and obedience, but there arealso some differences. All three indicate theinfluence of others on an individual’sbehaviour. Obedience is the most directand explicit form of social influence,whereas compliance is less direct thanobedience because someone has requestedand thus you comply (here, the probabilityof refusal is there). Conformity is the mostindirect form (you are conforming becauseyou do not want to deviate from the norm).

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Conformity

Why do people follow group norms, whenthe only ‘punishment’ they may face if theydo not, is the displeasure of the group, orbeing perceived as ‘different’? Why dopeople conform even when they know thatthe norm itself is not desirable?

It seems that the tendency to follow anorm is natural, and does not need anyspecial explanation. Yet, we need tounderstand why such a tendency appearsto be natural or spontaneous. First,norms represent a set of unwritten andinformal ‘rules’ of behaviour that provideinformation to members of a group aboutwhat is expected of them in specificsituations. This makes the whole situationclearer, and allows both the individual andthe group to function more smoothly.Second, in general, people feel un-comfortable if they are considered‘different’ from others. Behaving in a waythat differs from the expected form ofbehaviour may lead to disapproval ordislike by others, which is a form of socialpunishment. This is something that mostpeople fear, often in an imagined way.Recall the question we ask so often: “Whatwill people (‘then’) say?” Following thenorm is, thus, the simplest way of avoiding

disapproval and obtaining approval fromothers. Third, the norm is seen asreflecting the views and beliefs of themajority. Most people believe that themajority is more likely to be right ratherthan wrong. An instance of this is oftenobserved in quiz shows on television. Whena contestant is at a loss for the correctanswer to a question, s/he may opt for anaudience opinion, the person most oftentends to choose the same option that themajority of the audience chooses. By thesame reasoning, people conform to thenorm because they believe that themajority must be right. The pioneering experiments onconformity were carried out by Sherif andAsch. They illustrate some of theconditions that determine the extent ofconformity, and also methods that may beadopted for the study of conformity ingroups. These experiments demonstratewhat Sherif called the ‘autokineticeffect’ (Box 7.3) and the ‘Asch technique’(Box 7.4). What lessons are to be learned fromthe results of these experiments onconformity? The main lesson is that thedegree of conformity among the groupmembers is determined by many factorswhich are situation-specific.

Box7.3 The Autokinetic Effect

Sherif conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate how groups form their norms,and members make their judgments according to these norms.

Participants were seated in a darkroom, and asked to concentrate on a point of light.After watching this point of light, each person was asked to estimate the distance throughwhich the point had moved. This kind of judgment had to be made over a number of trials.After each trial, the group was given information about the average distance judged by themembers. It was observed that on subsequent trials, subjects modified their judgments ina way that made them more similar to the group average. The interesting aspect of thisexperiment was that the point of light actually did not move at all. The light was only seenas moving by the participant (therefore, the effect has been called the ‘autokinetic effect’).Yet in response to instructions from the experimenter, the participants not only judged thedistance the light moved, but also created a norm for this distance. Note that the participantswere not given any information regarding the nature of change, if any, in their judgmentsover trials.


Determinants of Conformity

(i) Size of the group : Conformity isgreater when the group is small than whenthe group is large. Why does it happen? Itis easier for a deviant member (one whodoes not conform) to be noticed in a smallgroup. However, in a large group, if thereis strong agreement among most of themembers, this makes the majoritystronger, and therefore, the norm is alsostronger. In such a case, the minoritymember(s) would be more likely to conformbecause the group pressure would bestronger.

(ii) Size of the minority : Take the caseof the Asch experiment (see Box 7.4).

Suppose the subject finds that after somerounds of judgment of the lines, there isanother participant who starts agreeingwith the subject’s answer. Would thesubject now be more likely to conform, orless likely to do so? When the dissentingor deviating minority size increases, thelikelihood of conformity decreases. In fact,it may increase the number of dissentersor non-conformists in the group.

(iii) Nature of the task : In Asch’sexperiment, the task required an answerthat could be verified, and could be corrector incorrect. Suppose the task involvesgiving an opinion about some topic. Insuch a case, there is no correct or incorrect

Box7.4Group Pressure and Conformity : The Asch Experiment

Asch examined how much conformity there would be when one member of a groupexperiences pressure from the rest of the group to behave in a specific way, or to give aparticular judgment. A group of seven persons participated in an experiment that was a‘vision test’. There was actually only one true subject. The other six participants wereassociates of the experimenter, or ‘confederates’ as they are called in social psychology.These confederates were given instructions to give specific responses. Of course, this wasnot known to the true subject. All participants were shown a vertical line (standard line)that had to be compared with three vertical lines of different lengths, A, B, and C (comparisonlines). Participants had to state which of the comparison lines, A, B, or C, was equal to thestandard line.

Standard Line Comparison Lines

A B C

When the experiment began, each participant, by turn, announced her/his answer.The first five persons gave wrong answers (as they had been instructed to do so). The truesubject’s turn came last-but-one in each round. So the true subject had the experience of5 persons giving incorrect answers before her/him. The last person (also a confederate)gave the same incorrect answer as the first five persons. Even if the true subject felt thatthese answers were incorrect, a norm had been presented to her/him. There were twelvetrials. Did the true subject conform to the majority answer, or did s/he give her/his ownjudgments ?

It was observed that 67 per cent subjects showed conformity, and gave the same incorrectanswer as the majority. Remember that this was a situation in which the answers were tobe given publicly.

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answer. In which situation is there likelyto be more conformity, the first one wherethere is something like a correct or anincorrect answer, or the second one whereanswers can vary widely without anyanswer being correct or incorrect? You mayhave guessed right; conformity would beless likely in the second situation.

(iv) Public or private expression ofbehaviour : In the Asch technique, thegroup members are asked to give theiranswers publicly, i.e. all members knowwho has given which response. However,there can be other situations (for example,voting by secret ballot) in which thebehaviour of members is private (notknown to others). Less conformity is foundunder private expression than it is seenunder public expression.

(v) Personality : The conditions describedabove show how the features of thesituation are important in determining thedegree of conformity shown. We also findthat some individuals have a conformingpersonality. Such persons have a tendencyto change their behaviour according towhat others say or do in most situations.By contrast, there are individuals who areindependent, and do not look for a normin order to decide how to behave in aspecific situation. Research has shownthat highly intelligent people, those whoare confident of themselves, those who arestrongly committed and have a high self-esteem are less likely to conform.

Conformity takes place because ofinformational influence, i.e. influence thatresults from accepting evidence ratherthan reality. This kind of rationalconformity can be thought of as learningabout the world from the actions of others.We learn by observing people, who are thebest source of information about manysocial conventions. New group memberslearn about the group’s customs byobserving the actions of other group

members. Conformity may also occurbecause of normative influence, i.e.influence based on a person’s desire to beaccepted or admired by others. In suchcases, people conform because deviationfrom group may lead to rejection or at theleast, non-acceptance of some form ofpunishment. It is generally observed thatthe group majority determines the finaldecision, but in certain conditions, aminority may be more influential. Thisoccurs when the minority takes a firm anduncompromising stand, thereby creating adoubt on the correctness of the majority’sviewpoint. This creates a conflict within thegroup (see Box 7.4).

Compliance

It was stated earlier that compliance referssimply to behaving in response to a requestfrom another person or group even in theabsence of a norm. A good example ofcompliance is the kind of behaviour shownwhen a salesperson comes to our door.Very often, this person comes with somegoods that we really do not wish to buy.Yet, sometimes to our own surprise, wefind that the salesperson has spoken to usfor a few minutes and the conversation hasended with a purchase of what he or shewished to sell. So why do people comply?

In many situations, this happensbecause it is an easy way out of thesituation. It is more polite and the otherparty is pleased. In other situations, therecould be other factors at work. Thefollowing techniques have been found towork when someone wants another personto comply.• The foot-in-the-door technique : The

person begins by making a smallrequest that the other person is notlikely to refuse. Once the other personcarries out the request, a bigger requestis made. Simply because the otherperson has already complied with the


smaller request, he or she may feeluncomfortable refusing the secondrequest. For example, someone maycome to us on behalf of a group andgive us a gift (something free), sayingthat it is for promotion. Soonafterwards, another member of thesame group may come to us again, andask us to buy a product made by thegroup.

• The deadline technique : In thistechnique, a ‘last date’ is announceduntil which a particular product or ‘anoffer’ will be available. The aim is tomake people ‘hurry’ and make thepurchase before they miss the rareopportunity. It is more likely thatpeople will buy a product under thisdeadline condition than if there is nosuch deadline.

• The door-in-the-face technique : Inthis technique, you begin with a largerequest and when this is refused a laterrequest for something smaller, the onethat was actually desired, is made,which is usually granted by the person.

Obedience

When compliance is shown to aninstruction or order from a person inauthority, such as parents, teachers,leaders, or policemen, that behaviour iscalled obedience. Why people showobedience is easy to understand. Mostoften it is because if we disobey, somepunishment might follow. Sometimes, it isbecause we believe that persons inauthority must be obeyed. People inauthority have ef fective means forenforcing their orders. Milgram conductedan experiment to show that individualsobey commands from people who arestrangers. The experimenter informed therespondents in the study that they wereparticipating in an experiment to study theeffects of punishment on learning. The

experiment was conducted on pairs. Oneperson in each pair was the “learner”,whose work was to memorise pairs ofwords. The other participant was the“teacher”, who would read these wordsaloud and punish the learner when s/hemade errors by giving her/him shock. Thelearner would make errors according toprearranged instructions. The teacher wasasked to deliver a shock each time thelearner made errors. The teacher wasfurther told to increase the strength of theshock each time the learner made an error.In reality, no shocks were given. Theinstructions were so arranged that theteacher was faced with a dilemma —should s/he continue shocks even whenthey were increasingly painful? Theexperimenter kept on motivating theteacher to continue. In all, 65 per centshowed total obedience. Some participants,however, protested and asked the sessionto end. Milgram’s study suggests that evenordinary people are willing to harm aninnocent person if ordered by someone inauthority.

Why do people obey even when theyknow that their behaviour is harmingothers? Psychologists have identifiedseveral reasons for this. Some of thesereasons are :• People obey because they feel that they

are not responsible for their ownactions, they are simply carrying outorders from the authority.

• Authority generally possesses symbolsof status (e.g., uniform, title) whichpeople find difficult to resist.

• Authority gradually increasescommands from lesser to greater levelsand initial obedience binds thefollowers for commitment. Once youobey small orders, slowly there is anescalation of commitment for theperson who is in authority and onestarts obeying bigger orders.

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• Many times, events are moving at sucha fast speed, for example in a riotsituation, that one has no time to think,just obey orders from above.

example, you can come first in acompetition only if others do not performto such a level that they can be judged asfirst. A cooperative goal, on the other hand,is one in which each individual can attainthe goal only if other members of the groupalso attain the goal. Let us try tounderstand this from an example fromathletics. In a hundred metres racebetween six people, only one can be thewinner. Success depends on individualperformance. In a relay race, victorydepends on the collective performance ofall members of a team. Deutschinvestigated cooperation and competitionwithin groups. College students wereassigned to groups of five persons andwere required to solve puzzles andproblems. One set of groups, referred to asthe ‘cooperative group’, were told that theywould be rewarded collectively for theirperformance. The other set of groups,labelled as ‘competitive group’ were toldthat there was a reward for individualexcellence. Results showed that incooperative groups, there was morecoordination, there was acceptance foreach other’s ideas, and members weremore friendly than those in the competitivegroup. The main concern of the membersof the cooperative group was to see that thegroup excels.

Although competition betweenindividuals within a group may result inconflict and disharmony, competitionbetween groups may increase within groupcohesion and solidarity.

Prisoner’s Dilemma Game, which is atwo person game in which both parties arefaced with cooperation or competition, anddepending upon their choices both can winor lose, is often used to study cooperationor competition. This game is based on ananecdote. Two suspects were quizzed bydetectives separately. The detectives hadonly enough evidence to convict them fora small offence. Separately the two convicts

Demonstrating Obedience inDaily Life

Do you believe the results of Milgramstudies on obedience to authority? Seefor yourself whether obedience occursor not.

Take permission from your teacherto go to one of the junior classes. Goand make a series of requests to thestudents. Some examples of suchrequests are :

Ask students to change their seatswith another student.Ask students to croak like a frog.Ask students to say ‘jai hind’.Ask students to put their hands up.(Feel free to add your own ideas)What did you see? Did students

obey you? Ask them why they did so?Explain to them that you were studyingwhy we obey seniors. Come back anddiscuss what you saw in the class withyour teacher and classmates.

Activity7.4

COOPERATION AND COMPETITION

People interact with each other in differentcontexts. Behaviours in most socialsituations are characterised by either‘cooperation’ or ‘competition’. When groupswork together to achieve shared goals, werefer to it as cooperation. The rewards incooperative situations are group rewardsand not individual rewards. However, whenmembers try to maximise their ownbenefits and work for the realisation of self-interest, competition is likely to result.Social groups may have both competitiveas well as cooperative goals. Competitivegoals are set in such a way that eachindividual can get her/his goal only ifothers do not attain their goals. For


Box7.5Sherif’s Summer Camp Experiments : A Journey from Ingroup Formation to

Intergroup Competition and Finally Intergroup Cooperation

Sherif conducted a series of experiments on 11–12 year old boys who did not know eachother. The boys were attending a summer camp. Unknown to the boys, there wereresearchers in the camp who examined their (the boys) behaviour. The experiment consistedof four phases, viz. friendship formation, group formation, intergroup competition, andintergroup cooperation.

• Friendship formation : When the boys arrived at the camp, they spent their initialtime together. They mixed freely with each other and chose their friends for games andother activities.

• Ingroup formation : The boys were then divided into two groups by the experimenter.The boys belonging to the two groups lived separately. Members within the groupengaged in cooperative projects to increase cohesiveness. The groups were given separatenames. Over time, they developed their own norms.

• Intergroup competition : The two groups were brought together in several competitivesituations. Matches were organised in which the groups competed against each other.This competition brought in tension and hostility against each other as a group; somuch so that the groups started calling each other names. At the same time, ingroupcohesion and loyalty became stronger.

• Intergroup cooperation : To reduce the hostility generated by intergroup competition,the researchers created a problem which affected both the groups, and both groupswanted to solve them. Superordinate goals could be achieved only through cooperationbetween the groups. The water supply of both groups was disrupted. Members of bothgroups helped each other to overcome this. This intergroup cooperation phase reducedthe hostility. This resulted in the development of a superordinate goal, i.e. a goal towhich personal goals were subordinated.

This research is important as it showed that antagonistic and hostile behaviour can begenerated by group situations. At the same time, it shows that hostility between groupscan be reduced by focusing on superordinate goals, which are important and beneficial toboth groups alike.

Player A Cooperation Competition

3 5

3 0

0 2

5 2

Fig.7.2 : Cooperation vs. Competition

Pla

yer

B C

ooper

ati

on C

ompet

itio

n

were offered a chance to confess. If oneconfesses and the other does not, the onewho confesses will get no punishment andher/his confession will be used to convictthe other with a serious offence. If bothconfess, the punishment to both will bemild. If neither confesses, each will receivea light sentence. This game has been usedin hundreds of experiments to demonstratethat when two parties are involved, thereis a conflict between motive to cooperateand motive to compete (see Figure 7.2).

For example, there are two players, Aand B. If both cooperate, both get threepoints each. If player A competes and wins,

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s/he gets 5 points and B gets 0 points. IfB competes and wins s/he gets 5 pointsand A gets 0 points. If both A and Bcompete, both get two points each. Whatoutcomes do you expect? Why do youexpect so? Give reasons.

Determinants of Cooperation andCompetition

What factors determine whether people willcooperate or compete? Some of theimportant ones are given below:(i) Reward structure : Psychologists

believe that whether people will co-operate or compete will depend on thereward structure. Cooperative rewardstructure is one in which there ispromotive interdependence. Each isbeneficiary of the reward and reward ispossible only if all contribute. Acompetitive reward structure is one inwhich one can get a reward only ifothers do not get it.

(ii) Interpersonal communication : Whenthere is good interpersonalcommunication, then cooperation is thelikely consequence. Communicationfacilitates interaction, and discussion.As a result, group members canconvince each other and learn abouteach other.

(iii)Reciprocity : Reciprocity means thatpeople feel obliged to return what theyget. Initial cooperation may encouragemore cooperation. Competition mayprovoke more competition. If someonehelps, you feel like helping that person;on the other hand, if someone refusesto help you when you need help, youwould not like to help that person also.

SOCIAL IDENTITY

Have you ever asked the question “whoam I?” What was your answer to thisquestion? Probably your answer was that

you are a hard-working, happy-go-luckygirl/boy. This answer tells you about yoursocial identity which is one’s self-definitionof who s/he is. This self-definition mayinclude both personal attributes, e.g. hardworking, happy-go-lucky, or attributeswhich you share with others, e.g. girl orboy. Although some aspects of our identityare determined by physical characteristics,we may acquire other aspects as aconsequence of our interaction with othersin society. Sometimes we perceive ourselvesas unique individuals and at other times weperceive ourselves as members of groups.Both are equally valid expressions of self.Our personal identities derived from viewsof oneself as a unique individual, and socialidentities derived from groups we perceiveourselves to be members of, are bothimportant to us. The extent to which wedefine ourselves either at personal or atsocial levels is flexible. From your ownexperience, you would realise thatidentification with social groups can havea great deal of importance for your self-concept. How do you feel when India winsa cricket match? You feel elated and proud.You feel so because of your social identityas an Indian. Social identity is, thus, thataspect of our self-concept which is basedon our group membership. Social identityplaces us, i.e. tells us what and where weare in the larger social context, and thushelps us to locate ourselves in society. Youhave a social identity of a student of yourschool. Once you have this identity of astudent of your school, you internalise thevalues emphasised in your school andmake these values your own. You strive tofulfil the motto of your school. Socialidentity provides members with a sharedset of values, beliefs and goals aboutthemselves and about their social world.Once you internalise the values of yourschool, this helps to coordinate andregulate your attitudes and behaviour. You


work hard for your school to make it thebest school in your city/state. When wedevelop a strong identity with our owngroup, the categorisation as ingroup andoutgroup becomes salient. The group withwhich you identify yourself becomes theingroup and others become the outgroup.The negative aspect of this own group andoutgroup categorisation is that we startshowing favouritism towards our ingroup byrating it more favourably in comparison tothe outgroup, and begin devaluating theoutgroup. This devaluation of the outgroupis the basis of a number of intergroupconflicts.

INTERGROUP CONFLICT : NATURE AND

CAUSES

Conflict is a process in which either anindividual or a group perceives that others(individual or group) have opposinginterests, and both try to contradict eachother. There is this intense feeling of ‘we’and ‘other’ (also referred to as ‘they’).There is also a belief by both parties thatthe other will protect only its own interests;their (the other side’s) interests will,therefore, not be protected. There is notonly opposition of each other, but they alsotry to exert power on each other. Groupshave been found to be more aggressivethan individuals. This often leads toescalation of conflict. All conflicts are costlyas there is a human price for them. Inwars, there are both victories and defeats,but the human cost of war is far beyondall this. Various types of conflict arecommonly seen in society, which turn outto be costly for both sides as well as forsociety.

Mentioned below are some of the majorreasons for group conflicts.• One major reason is lack of

communication and faulty communi-cation by both parties. This kind ofcommunication leads to suspicion, i.e.

there is a lack of trust. Hence, conflictresults.

• Another reason for intergroup conflictis relative deprivation. It arises whenmembers of a group comparethemselves with members of anothergroup, and perceive that they do nothave what they desire to have, whichthe other group has. In other words,they feel that they are not doing well incomparison to other groups. This maylead to feelings of deprivation anddiscontentment, which may trigger offconflict.

• Another cause of conflict is one party’sbelief that it is better than the other,and what it is saying should be done.When this does not happen, bothparties start accusing each other. Onemay often witness a tendency tomagnify even smaller differences,thereby conflict gets escalated becauseevery member wants to respect thenorms of her/his group.

• A feeling that the other group does notrespect the norms of my group, andactually violates those norms becauseof a malevolent intent.

• Desire for retaliation for some harmdone in the past could be anotherreason for conflict.

• Biased perceptions are at the root ofmost conflicts. As already mentionedearlier, feelings of ‘they’ and ‘we’ lead tobiased perceptions.

• Research has shown that when actingin groups, people are more competitiveas well as more aggressive than whenthey are on their own. Groups competeover scarce resources, both materialresources, e.g. territory, and money aswell as social resources, e.g. respectand esteem.

• Perceived inequity is another reason forconflict. Equity refers to distribution ofrewards in proportion to an individual’scontributions, if:

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=

But, if you contribute more and getless, you are likely to feel irritated andexploited.

Conflicts between groups give impetusto a series of social and cognitive processes.These processes harden the stand of eachside leading to ingroup polarisation. Thismay result in coalition formation of like-minded parties, thereby increasing theapprehensions of both parties resulting inmisperceptions, and biased interpretationsand attributions. The result is increasedconflict. Present-day society is fraught withvarious intergroup conflicts. These arerelated to caste, class, religion, region,language, just to name a few of them.Gardner Murphy wrote a book entitled‘In the Minds of Men’. Most conflicts beginin the minds of men and then go to the field.Explanations of such conflicts can be at thestructural, group, and individual levels.Structural conditions include high rates ofpoverty, economic and social stratification,inequality, limited political and socialopportunity, etc. Research on group levelfactors has shown that social identity,realistic conflict between groups overresources, and unequal power relationsbetween groups lead to escalation ofconflict. At the individual level, beliefs,biased attitudes, and personalitycharacteristics are important determinants.It has been found that at the individuallevel, there is a progression along acontinuum of violence. Very small acts thatinitially may have no significance, likecalling the other group a name, may leadto psychological changes that make furtherdestructive actions possible.

Deutsch identified the followingconsequences of intergroup conflict.

• Communication between the groupsbecomes poor. The groups do not trusteach other, thereby leading to abreakdown in communication and thisgenerates suspicion for each other.

• Groups start magnifying theirdifferences and start perceiving theirbehaviour as fair and the other’sbehaviour as unfair.

• Each side tries to increase its ownpower and legitimacy. As a conse-quence, the conflict gets escalatedshifting from few specific issues tomuch larger issues.

• Once conflict starts, several otherfactors lead to escalation of conflict.Hardening of ingroup opinion, explicitthreats directed at the outgroup, eachgroup retaliating more and more, andother parties also choosing to take sideslead to escalation of conflict.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES

Conflicts can be reduced if we know abouttheir causes. The processes that increaseconflict can be turned around to reduce italso. A number of strategies have beensuggested by psychologists. Some of theseare :

Introduction of superordinate goals :Sherif’s study, already mentioned in thesection on cooperation and competition,showed that by introducing superordinategoals, intergroup conflict can be reduced.A superordinate goal is mutually beneficialto both parties, hence both groups workcooperatively.

Altering perceptions : Conflicts can alsobe reduced by altering perceptions andreactions through persuasion, educationaland media appeals, and portrayal of groupsdifferently in society. Promoting empathyfor others should be taught to everyoneright from the beginning.

Your rewards

Your contributions

Your friends’rewards

Your friends’contributions


Key TermsArbitration, Cohesiveness, Competition, Compliance, Conflict, Conformity, Cooperation, Goal achievement,Group, Group formation, Groupthink, Identity, Ingroup, Interdependence, Intergroup, Negotiation, Norms,Obedience, Outgroup, Proximity, Roles, Social facilitation, Social influence, Social inhibition, Socialloafing, Status, Structure, Superordinate goals.

Increasing intergroup contacts : Conflictcan also be reduced by increasing contactsbetween the groups. This can be done byinvolving groups in conflict on neutralgrounds through community projects andevents. The idea is to bring them togetherso that they become more appreciative ofeach other’s stand. However, for contactsto be successful, they need to bemaintained, which means that they shouldbe supported over a period of time.

Redrawing group boundaries : Anothertechnique that has been suggested bysome psychologists is redrawing the groupboundaries. This can be done by creatingconditions where groups boundaries areredefined and groups come to perceivethemselves as belonging to a commongroup.

Negotiations : Conflict can also beresolved through negotiations and thirdparty interventions. Warring groups canresolve conflict by trying to find mutuallyacceptable solutions. This requiresunderstanding and trust. Negotiation refersto reciprocal communications so as toreach an agreement in situations in which

there is a conflict. Sometimes it is difficultto dissipate conflict through negotiations;at that time mediation and arbitration bya third party is needed. Mediators helpboth parties to focus their discussions onthe relevant issues and reach a voluntaryagreement. In arbitration, the third partyhas the authority to give a decision afterhearing both parties.

Structural solutions : Conflict can also bereduced by redistributing the societalresources according to principles based onjustice. Research on justice has identifiedseveral principles of justice. Some of theseare : equality (allocating equally to everyone), need (allocating on the basis ofneeds), and equity (allocating on the basisof contributions of members).

Respect for other group’s norms : In apluralist society like India, it is necessaryto respect and be sensitive to the strongnorms of various social and ethnic groups.It has been noticed that a number ofcommunal riots between different groupshave taken place because of suchinsensitivity.

• Groups are different from other collections of people. Mutual interdependence, roles,status, and expectations are the main characteristics of groups.

• Groups are organised systems of two or more individuals.• People join groups because they provide security, status, self-esteem, satisfaction of

one’s psychological and social needs, goal achievement, and knowledge andinformation.

• Proximity, similarity, and common motives and goals facilitate group formation.• Generally, group work leads to beneficial results. However, sometimes in cohesive

and homogeneous groups, the phenomenon of groupthink may occur.• Groups are of different types, i.e. primary and secondary, formal and informal, and

ingroup and outgroup.

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Weblinkshttp://www.mapnp.org/library/grp_skill/theory/theory.htmhttp://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htmhttp://www.stanleymilgram.com/main.htmhttp://www.psychclassics.yorku.ca/sheriff/chap1.htm

Review Questions1. Compare and contrast formal and informal groups, and ingroups and outgroups.2. Are you a member of a certain group? Discuss what motivated you to join that

group.3. How does Tuckman’s stage model help you to understand the formation of groups?4. How do groups influence our behaviour?5. How can you reduce social loafing in groups? Think of any two incidents of social

loafing in school. How did you overcome it?6. How often do you show conformity in your behaviour? What are the determinants of

conformity?7. Why do people obey even when they know that their behaviour may be harming

others? Explain.8. What are the benefits of cooperation?9. How is one’s identity formed?

10. What are some of the causes of intergroup conflict? Think of any international conflict.Reflect on the human price of this conflict.

ProjectIdeas

1. “S/he who does not ask will never get a bargain.” Collect the newspapers of last onemonth. List the different bargains that were offered by shopkeepers. What compliancetechniques were used by them? Ask your friends how many were attracted by thesebargains.

2. Make a list of different conflicts that have occurred among different houses in theschool. How were these conflicts resolved?

3. Identify any Test series in cricket which India played recently. Collect the newspapersof that period. Evaluate the reviews of the matches and comments made by Indian andrival commentators. Do you see any difference between the comments?

4. Imagine that you have to collect money to help an NGO working for the girl child. Whattechniques of social influence would you use? Try any two techniques and see thedifference.

• Groups influence individual behaviour. Social facilitation and social loafing are twoimportant influences of groups.

• Conformity, compliance, and obedience are three important forms of social influence.• Conformity is the most indirect form of social influence; obedience the most direct

form; compliance is in-between the two.• People interact in social situations by either cooperating or competing.• One’s self-definition of who s/he is referred to as social identity.• Group conflicts occur in all societies.• Group conflicts can be reduced if we know the causes of such conflicts.


Pedagogical Hints1. In the topic of nature and formation

of groups, students should be madeto understand the importance ofgroups in real-life. Here, it needs tobe emphasised that they should becareful in choosing groups.Teachers can ask a few studentshow they have become members ofdifferent groups, and what do theyget from membership in thesegroups.

2. For explaining social loafing, simpleexperiments can be conducted inthe class by asking students toperform some activities in groupsand then asking them about theircontributions in the activitiesundertaken. Learning experiencefor students should be on ways toavoid social loafing.

3. In the topic of cooperation andcompetition, students should betold the benefits of both cooperationand competition. They should beable to appreciate that cooperationis a better strategy in society. Somecases of real-life where cooperativeefforts have been successful can bediscussed.

4. Students should be able toappreciate that identities areimportant and how our identitiesinfluence our social behaviour.

5. In the section on intergroup conflict,emphasis should be on conflictresolution strategies rather thanconflict per se.

social influence and group...

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