This lesson completes social psychology (about 9–10% of the CLEP exam combined with Lesson 14), moving from one-on-one influence to what happens in groups, crowds, and relationships.
Social facilitation is improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others. Robert Zajonc's mechanism is the one to know: an audience raises arousal, and arousal strengthens the dominant response — your most practiced reaction. On easy or mastered tasks the dominant response is correct, so performance improves; on difficult or unfamiliar tasks it is wrong, so performance gets worse. A veteran pool player sinks more shots with a crowd; a novice falls apart before the same crowd.
Social loafing is the opposite setup: people exert less effort when their work is pooled toward a common group goal than when they are individually accountable — the tug-of-war team where no one pulls as hard as they would alone. The key contrast: facilitation involves individual, evaluated performance (spotlight on you); loafing requires pooled, anonymous effort (hidden in the crowd).
Deindividuation goes further: in group situations that combine anonymity and arousal — crowds, costumes, uniforms, online mobs — people lose self-awareness and self-restraint and do things they would never do alone.
Group polarization: discussion among like-minded people makes the group's pre-existing leaning more extreme — a mildly favorable group leaves strongly favorable. Direction stays; intensity grows.
Groupthink (Irving Janis): the desire for harmony and consensus overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives. Members suppress doubts, pressure dissenters, and shield the group from contrary information, producing confident, unanimous, sometimes catastrophic decisions. The remedy is structural — welcome dissent, assign a devil's advocate, consult outsiders.
Darley and Latané showed that the more people present at an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help. In their intercom "seizure" study, 85% of participants who believed they were the only witness sought help; only 31% did when they believed four others could also hear. Two mechanisms drive the effect: diffusion of responsibility — shared responsibility lowers each person's felt obligation ("someone else will handle it") — and pluralistic ignorance — people read everyone else's calm as evidence there is no emergency. Note the relationship: the bystander effect is the outcome; diffusion of responsibility is the main mechanism.
Keep the three components separate — the exam does:
| Term | Component | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Stereotype | Belief (think) | A generalized, often overgeneralized idea about a group |
| Prejudice | Attitude (feel) | An unjustified, usually negative attitude toward a group |
| Discrimination | Behavior (do) | Unjustified negative action toward a group |
Feeding mechanisms: we divide the world into in-groups ("us") and out-groups ("them"). In-group bias favors our own group; out-group homogeneity is the perception that out-group members are "all alike" while our own group is full of distinct individuals. Scapegoat theory holds that prejudice provides an outlet for anger by supplying someone to blame.
Reducing prejudice. Mere contact is not enough. The contact hypothesis (Gordon Allport) specifies conditions: equal status, common goals, cooperation (not competition), and support from authorities and norms. Muzafer Sherif's Robbers Cave study demonstrated the point: two rival boys' camp groups stayed hostile through shared meals and movies, but hostility dissolved when superordinate goals — shared goals neither group could achieve alone, like restoring the camp's water supply — forced cooperation.
Aggression — behavior intended to harm — has biological roots (genetics, testosterone, alcohol) and social triggers, chiefly the frustration-aggression principle: blocked goals breed anger that can spill into aggression, and observing aggressive models teaches it. Prosocial behavior is action intended to benefit others; altruism is unselfish regard for others' welfare — helping without expectation of return. Helping rises when responsibility is clear and falls when it is diffused (the bystander research again), and social norms such as reciprocity (help those who help you) and social responsibility (help those who depend on you) sustain it.
Three robust predictors of liking: - Proximity — geographic nearness is one of the strongest predictors, largely via the mere-exposure effect (Zajonc): repeated exposure to a stimulus increases liking for it. Familiarity breeds fondness. - Physical attractiveness — dominates first impressions and feeds the "what is beautiful is good" halo. - Similarity — shared attitudes, values, and interests predict lasting relationships far better than the folk claim that opposites attract.
Q1 — E (increased arousal strengthens the dominant response). - Correct: Zajonc's mechanism — an audience raises arousal, which amplifies the most practiced (dominant) response: correct for the expert, error-prone for the beginner. - A) Facilitation improves expert performance, so motivation is not uniformly reduced. B) Loafing requires pooled group effort, absent here. C) Reversed — presence raises arousal. D) Deindividuation involves anonymity and lost restraint, not typing accuracy. - Fix rule: Audience → arousal → dominant response stronger: helps mastered tasks, hurts new ones.
Q2 — D (social loafing). - Correct: Reduced individual effort when output is pooled and individually unaccountable is social loafing. - A) Facilitation requires individually evaluated performance — here effort is hidden in a joint product. B) Polarization concerns attitude extremity, not effort. C) Deindividuation is lost restraint in anonymous, aroused crowds. E) Groupthink concerns flawed consensus decisions, not effort. - Fix rule: Pooled credit + no individual accountability → less effort = social loafing.
Q3 — B (deindividuation). - Correct: Anonymity (costume, crowd) plus arousal producing loss of self-awareness and restraint is deindividuation. - A) Facilitation is about task performance under observation. C) Groupthink is a decision-making failure in cohesive committees. D) The bystander effect concerns failure to help. E) Polarization is attitude intensification through discussion. - Fix rule: Anonymous + aroused + doing what you'd never do alone = deindividuation.
Q4 — A (harmony suppressed realistic appraisal). - Correct: Groupthink's defining feature is consensus-seeking that overrides honest evaluation — suppressed doubts and silenced dissenters, exactly as described. - B) Describes group polarization, the concept being ruled out. C) Describes social loafing. D) Describes deindividuation. E) Describes diffusion of responsibility in bystander situations. - Fix rule: Polarization = same direction, more extreme; groupthink = agreement because no one dared disagree.
Q5 — B (the bystander effect). - Correct: More witnesses → lower probability that any individual helps is the bystander effect, Darley and Latané's core finding. - A) Loafing is reduced effort on shared tasks, not failure to help in emergencies. C) Polarization concerns group attitudes. D) Mere exposure concerns liking through familiarity. E) In-group bias concerns favoring one's own group. - Fix rule: More bystanders, less helping = bystander effect (name the outcome).
Q6 — D (diffusion of responsibility). - Correct: With many witnesses, responsibility is shared so thinly that each individual feels little personal obligation — the mechanism behind delayed helping. - A) Facilitation concerns performance, not helping. B) Groupthink requires a deliberating group seeking consensus. C) Polarization concerns attitude extremity. E) Deindividuation is lost self-restraint, and the bystanders are not disinhibited — they are passive. - Fix rule: "Someone else will handle it" = diffusion of responsibility (the mechanism behind the bystander effect).
Q7 — C (stereotype, prejudice, discrimination). - Correct: The belief ("lazy") is a stereotype, the feeling (contempt) is prejudice, and the action (rejecting applications) is discrimination — think, feel, do. - A), B), D), and E) each scramble the mapping of belief, attitude, and action. - Fix rule: Stereotype = think; prejudice = feel; discrimination = do.
Q8 — E (the mere-exposure effect). - Correct: Repeated exposure to a neutral stimulus — the classmate she sees at every meeting — increases liking; proximity works largely through this effect. - A) No group discussion or attitude extremity is involved. B) Facilitation concerns task performance before an audience. C) Out-group homogeneity is a prejudice perception. D) Diffusion of responsibility concerns emergencies. - Fix rule: Familiarity from repeated exposure → liking = mere-exposure effect.
Q9 — B (the frustration-aggression principle). - Correct: A blocked goal (the denied promotion) generates frustration that spills into hostile behavior — the frustration-aggression link. - A) Prosocial behavior is helping, the opposite. C) Polarization requires group discussion. D) The bystander effect concerns failure to help in emergencies. E) In-group bias is favoritism toward one's own group. - Fix rule: Blocked goal → frustration → aggression, often displaced onto safer targets.
Q10 — A (out-group homogeneity). - Correct: Perceiving out-group members as "all alike" while seeing one's own group as varied individuals is out-group homogeneity. - B) In-group bias is favoring one's own group — related, but the "all the same" perception is the homogeneity effect. C) Deindividuation is lost restraint in crowds. D) Diffusion of responsibility concerns helping. E) Loafing concerns effort. - Fix rule: "They're all alike; we're individuals" = out-group homogeneity.
Q11 — A (insufficient; superordinate goals were required). - Correct: At Robbers Cave, shared meals and movies left hostility intact — only superordinate goals neither group could achieve alone (fixing the water supply) dissolved it. Mere shared space fails Allport's conditions (cooperation toward common goals). - B) Mere contact is precisely what the study showed to be inadequate. C) Misapplies Zajonc's facilitation logic to prejudice. D) Overstates — structured cooperative contact does reduce prejudice without legislation. E) Misapplies mere exposure; between hostile groups, unstructured exposure can even sharpen conflict. - Fix rule: Contact reduces prejudice only with cooperation toward superordinate goals, equal status, and institutional support.
Q12 — C (flawed; the causes are situational). - Correct: Darley and Latané found the same kind of person helps 85% of the time alone but only 31% with four other presumed witnesses — situation, not character, drives the failure to help. - A) Helping rates varied dramatically with the circumstances. B) Participants were typically distressed and conflicted, not indifferent. D) Attraction research is irrelevant to the bystander finding. E) Reverses the effect — shared responsibility reduces helping. - Fix rule: Bystander inaction = diffusion of responsibility in the situation, not callous character.
Q1 — E (increased arousal strengthens the dominant response). - Correct: Zajonc's mechanism — an audience raises arousal, which amplifies the most practiced (dominant) response: correct for the expert, error-prone for the beginner. - A) Facilitation improves expert performance, so motivation is not uniformly reduced. B) Loafing requires pooled group effort, absent here. C) Reversed — presence raises arousal. D) Deindividuation involves anonymity and lost restraint, not typing accuracy. - Fix rule: Audience → arousal → dominant response stronger: helps mastered tasks, hurts new ones.
Q2 — D (social loafing). - Correct: Reduced individual effort when output is pooled and individually unaccountable is social loafing. - A) Facilitation requires individually evaluated performance — here effort is hidden in a joint product. B) Polarization concerns attitude extremity, not effort. C) Deindividuation is lost restraint in anonymous, aroused crowds. E) Groupthink concerns flawed consensus decisions, not effort. - Fix rule: Pooled credit + no individual accountability → less effort = social loafing.
Q3 — B (deindividuation). - Correct: Anonymity (costume, crowd) plus arousal producing loss of self-awareness and restraint is deindividuation. - A) Facilitation is about task performance under observation. C) Groupthink is a decision-making failure in cohesive committees. D) The bystander effect concerns failure to help. E) Polarization is attitude intensification through discussion. - Fix rule: Anonymous + aroused + doing what you'd never do alone = deindividuation.
Q4 — A (harmony suppressed realistic appraisal). - Correct: Groupthink's defining feature is consensus-seeking that overrides honest evaluation — suppressed doubts and silenced dissenters, exactly as described. - B) Describes group polarization, the concept being ruled out. C) Describes social loafing. D) Describes deindividuation. E) Describes diffusion of responsibility in bystander situations. - Fix rule: Polarization = same direction, more extreme; groupthink = agreement because no one dared disagree.
Q5 — B (the bystander effect). - Correct: More witnesses → lower probability that any individual helps is the bystander effect, Darley and Latané's core finding. - A) Loafing is reduced effort on shared tasks, not failure to help in emergencies. C) Polarization concerns group attitudes. D) Mere exposure concerns liking through familiarity. E) In-group bias concerns favoring one's own group. - Fix rule: More bystanders, less helping = bystander effect (name the outcome).
Q6 — D (diffusion of responsibility). - Correct: With many witnesses, responsibility is shared so thinly that each individual feels little personal obligation — the mechanism behind delayed helping. - A) Facilitation concerns performance, not helping. B) Groupthink requires a deliberating group seeking consensus. C) Polarization concerns attitude extremity. E) Deindividuation is lost self-restraint, and the bystanders are not disinhibited — they are passive. - Fix rule: "Someone else will handle it" = diffusion of responsibility (the mechanism behind the bystander effect).
Q7 — C (stereotype, prejudice, discrimination). - Correct: The belief ("lazy") is a stereotype, the feeling (contempt) is prejudice, and the action (rejecting applications) is discrimination — think, feel, do. - A), B), D), and E) each scramble the mapping of belief, attitude, and action. - Fix rule: Stereotype = think; prejudice = feel; discrimination = do.
Q8 — E (the mere-exposure effect). - Correct: Repeated exposure to a neutral stimulus — the classmate she sees at every meeting — increases liking; proximity works largely through this effect. - A) No group discussion or attitude extremity is involved. B) Facilitation concerns task performance before an audience. C) Out-group homogeneity is a prejudice perception. D) Diffusion of responsibility concerns emergencies. - Fix rule: Familiarity from repeated exposure → liking = mere-exposure effect.
Q9 — B (the frustration-aggression principle). - Correct: A blocked goal (the denied promotion) generates frustration that spills into hostile behavior — the frustration-aggression link. - A) Prosocial behavior is helping, the opposite. C) Polarization requires group discussion. D) The bystander effect concerns failure to help in emergencies. E) In-group bias is favoritism toward one's own group. - Fix rule: Blocked goal → frustration → aggression, often displaced onto safer targets.
Q10 — A (out-group homogeneity). - Correct: Perceiving out-group members as "all alike" while seeing one's own group as varied individuals is out-group homogeneity. - B) In-group bias is favoring one's own group — related, but the "all the same" perception is the homogeneity effect. C) Deindividuation is lost restraint in crowds. D) Diffusion of responsibility concerns helping. E) Loafing concerns effort. - Fix rule: "They're all alike; we're individuals" = out-group homogeneity.
Q11 — A (insufficient; superordinate goals were required). - Correct: At Robbers Cave, shared meals and movies left hostility intact — only superordinate goals neither group could achieve alone (fixing the water supply) dissolved it. Mere shared space fails Allport's conditions (cooperation toward common goals). - B) Mere contact is precisely what the study showed to be inadequate. C) Misapplies Zajonc's facilitation logic to prejudice. D) Overstates — structured cooperative contact does reduce prejudice without legislation. E) Misapplies mere exposure; between hostile groups, unstructured exposure can even sharpen conflict. - Fix rule: Contact reduces prejudice only with cooperation toward superordinate goals, equal status, and institutional support.
Q12 — C (flawed; the causes are situational). - Correct: Darley and Latané found the same kind of person helps 85% of the time alone but only 31% with four other presumed witnesses — situation, not character, drives the failure to help. - A) Helping rates varied dramatically with the circumstances. B) Participants were typically distressed and conflicted, not indifferent. D) Attraction research is irrelevant to the bystander finding. E) Reverses the effect — shared responsibility reduces helping. - Fix rule: Bystander inaction = diffusion of responsibility in the situation, not callous character.