CBSE Class 12 Psychology Social Influences And Group Processes Assignment Set B

Very Short Answer Type Questions 

Question. Explain the term obedience.
Answer: When compliance is shown to an instruction or order from a person in authority such as parents, teachers, leaders or policemen, that is called obedience. Obedience is towards authority such as those who possess symbols of status (e.g. uniform, title).

Question. What is personal identity?
Answer: Our personal identities are derived from views of oneself as a unique individual.

Question. What is an audience?
Answer: An audience is a collection of people who have assembled for a special purpose. For example, to watch a cricket match or a movie.

Question. What is group polarisation? Explain with examples.
Answer: It has been found that groups are more likely to take extreme decisions than individuals alone. This is referred to as ‘group polarisation’. For example, an employer is caught
taking bribe or engaging in some unethical act. A group through discussion and interaction decides to take extreme decisions like terminating his services than a simple punishment. This is known as group polarisation when a group takes extreme positions by taking strong decisions.

Question. What are norms?
Answer: Norms are expected standards of behaviour and beliefs established, agreed upon and enforced by group members. They may be considered as a group’s ‘unspoken rules’.
For example, in a family, there are norms that guide the behaviour of family members.
These norms represent shared ways of viewing the world.

Question. Differentiate between groups and teams.
Answer: 

Short Answer Type Questions

Question. Why do people behave according to the group norms?
Answer: People behave according to the group norms because
(i) Norms provide information to members of a group about what is expected of them in specific situations.
(ii) People feel uncomfortable if they are considered different from others. Behaving in a way that differs from the expected form of behaviour may lead to disapproval or dislike by others, which is a form of social punishment.
(iii) Norm is seen as reflecting the views and beliefs of majority. Most people believe that the majority is more likely to be right than wrong.
Example of conformity: a rule is announced in school in banning mobile phones in school. You know that if you do not sign the letter you will lose many friends and get a bad name for keeping student unity. Hence you conform to the group norm by signing the letter, i.e., expectations of other group members so that you are not noticed as deviant.

Question. Differentiate between crowd and teams.
Answer: A crowd is a collection of people who are present in a place or situation by chance. There is neither any structure nor any feeling of belongingness in a crowd. The behaviour of people in crowds is irrational and hence there is no interdependence among the members. For example, a large number of people collected around an accident on a road. Teams are special kind of groups who have a common goal or purpose as in a cricket team. Both individual contribution and team work matter. Although there is a leader, the members hold themselves responsible.

Question. Enumerate the four elements of group structure.
Answer: The elements of a group structure are:
(i) Roles are socially defined expectations that individuals in a given situation are expected to fulfill. You have the role of a son or a daughter and you have certain role expectations such as to respect elders, listen to them and responsible towards your studies.
(ii) Norms are expected standards, behaviour and beliefs enforced by group members.They are group’s ‘unspoken rules’.
(iii) Status refers to relative social position given to group members by others. By being members of the group we enjoy the status associated with that group. For example, the captain of a cricket team has a higher status compared to other members.
(iv) Cohesiveness refers to togetherness, binding or mutual attraction among group members. It refers to the team spirit or ‘we feeling’ or a sense of belongingness to the group.

Question. When does conformity occur?
Answer: Conformity takes place because of informational influence, i.e., influence that results from accepting evidence rather than reality.Conformity may also occur because of normative influence, i.e., influence based on a person’s desire to be accepted or admired by others. In such cases, people conform because deviation from group may lead to rejection or non-acceptance which is a form of social punishment.

Question. What are the benefits of cooperation?
Answer: The determinants of a cooperation and competition are
(i) Reward structure: Cooperative reward is one in which there is interdependence and reward is possible only if all contribute.
(ii) Interpersonal communication: Good interpersonal communication facilitates cooperation which in turn facilitates interaction and discussion.
(iii) Reciprocity: Cooperation may encourage more cooperation. For example, if someone has helped you in the past you are more likely to help him while on the other hand, if someone has refused to help you, you also might refuse to help him.

Question. How is one’s identity formed?
Answer: Our personal identities derived from views of oneself as a unique individual. Social identity is that aspect of our self-concept which is based on our group membership.You work hard for your school in your city. The group with which you identify yourself becomes the in-group and others become the out-group. We start showing favouritism towards own in-group by rating it more favourably in comparison to the out-group.

Question. What is obedience? What do people obey?
                          OR
Why do people show obedience?
Answer: When compliance is shown to an instruction or order from a person in authority such as parents, teachers, leaders or policemen, that is called obedience.
The causes of obedience are:
(i) People obey because they feel that they are not responsible for their own actions, they are simply carrying out orders from the authority.
(ii) Authority possesses symbols of status (e.g., uniform, title) which people find difficult to resist.
(iii) Once you obey small orders, slowly there is an escalation of commitment for the person who is in authority and one starts obeying bigger orders.
(iv) Many times, events are moving at such a fast speed, that no one has time to think but just to obey orders from above.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question. Why do people conform? How is conformity different from compliance? Explain.
Answer: People conform because:
(i) It allows people to function more smoothly by adhering to group norms.
(ii) People behaving in a different way may lead to disapproval.
(iii) The norm is seen as reflecting views and beliefs of the majority. Most people believe that the majority is more likely to be right.
Conformity means behaving according to the group norm while compliance is a response to a request made by someone. Example of conformity: a rule is announced in school in banning mobile phones in school. You agree to do so. For example Compliance refers to behaving in response to a request from another person or group in the absence of a norm. For example, a member of a community group for ‘Clean Environment’ requests you to put a sticker on your bike that reads, ‘Say no to Plastic bags’. You agree to do so not because of group norm or because you personally believe in banning plastic bags,but because you see no harm or problem in putting such sticker. At the same time, it is easier to say ‘yes’ then ‘no’ to such a harmless request.

Question. What are some of the causes of intergroup conflict? Think of any international conflict.Reflect on the human price of this conflict.
Answer: Causes of inter-group conflict are:
(i) Lack of communication: Faulty communication leads to suspicion and a lack of trust.
(ii) Relative deprivation: It arises due to comparison when members of a group feel that they do not have what they desire to have or are not doing well in comparison to other groups. Hence, they feel deprived and discontented.
(iii) Belief of being superior from the other: It occurs when one party believes it is better than the other and every member wants to respect the norms of his/her group.
(iv) Disrespect for the norms of the other group: A feeling that the other group does not respect the norms of my group and violates them because of hostile intention leads to inter-group conflict.
(v) Desire for Retaliation: Some harm done by the group in the past could be the reason for inter-group conflict.
(vi) Biased perception: Feelings of ‘they’ and ‘we’ leads to biased perceptions.
(vii) Existence of a group: Groups obviously generate the feeling of competition and people become more aggressive when they are in a group than when they are alone.Groups compete over scarce resources, both material resources such as territory or money and social resources such as respect or self-esteem.
(viii) Perceived inequity: Perceived inequity is a reason for conflict. Equity refers to distribution of rewards in proposition to individual contributions. If both contribute more but get less, you feel irritated.

Question. What is a group? Explain the stages of group formation giving examples.
                          ​​​​​​​             ​​​​​​​OR 
Explain giving examples the stages of group formation. 
             ​​​​​​​             ​​​​​​​             OR
Discuss the Tuckman’s stage model in detail.
Answer: A group is defined as an organized system of two or more individuals who are interacting and interdependent, who have common motives, have a set of role relationships and norms that regulate their behaviour. Example: family, class, playgroup.
The following are the stages of a group:
(i) Forming Stage: When group members first meet, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the group, the goal and how it is to be achieved. There is excitement and apprehension. This stage is called the forming stage.
(ii) Storming Stage: In this stage, there is conflict among members about how the target of the group is to be achieved, who is to control the group and its resources, and who is to perform what task.When this stage is complete, some sort of hierarchy of leadership in the group develops and a clear vision as to how to achieve the group goal.
(iii) Norming Stage: Group members by this time develop norms related to group behaviour. This leads to development of positive group identity.
(iv) Performing Stage: By this time, the structure of the group has evolved. The group moves towards achieving the group goal.For some groups, this is the last stage of group development.
(v) Adjourning Stage: For some groups this is the last stage like in the case of an organizing committee for a school function. In this stage, once the function is over, the group may be disclosed.For example, during an annual function in a school, groups are formed consisting of the various participants and when the programme is over the group is dismantled.

Question. Why do people conform? Explain how conformity is different from compliance.
Answer: People conform because:
(i) It allows people to function more smoothly by adhering to group norms.
(ii) People behaving in a different way may lead to disapproval.
(iii) The norm is seen as reflecting views and beliefs of the majority. Most people believe that the majority is more likely to be right.
Conformity means behaving according to the group norm while compliance is a response to a request made by someone. Example of conformity: a rule is announced in school in banning mobile phones in school. You agree to do so. A member of a community group for ‘Clean Environment’ requests you to put a sticker on your bike that reads, ‘Say no to Plastic bags’. You agree to do so. This is compliance.
Conformity takes place due to normative or informational influences whereas compliance is obtained by using any of these techniques Foot-in-the-door technique, Deadline technique or The door-in-the-face technique.

Question. What are the consequences of Inter-group conflict?
Answer: (i) Conflicts between groups lead to group polarisation.
(ii) Conflicts may result in coalition formation of like-minded parties, thereby increasing the apprehensions of both parties resulting in mis-perceptions and biased interpretations and attributions.
(iii) Conflicts can be at three levels; structural, group and individual. Structural conditions include high rates of poverty, economic and social stratification, inequality, limited social and political opportunity. Group level factors has shown that social identity,realistic conflict between group over resources and unequal power relations between groups lead to escalation of conflict. At the individual level; beliefs, biased attitudes and personality characteristics are important determinants.
According to Deutsch, the various direct or indirect consequences of inter-group conflict are:
(i) Breakdown of communication in which
– Communication between the groups becomes poor.
– The group members do not trust each other, thereby leading to a breakdown in communication and this generates suspicion for each other.
(ii) Distorted perception: Groups start magnifying their differences and start perceiving their behaviour as fair and others’ behaviour as unfair.
(iii) Increase in power: Each side tries to increase its own power and legitimacy. As a consequence, the conflict gets escalated shifting from few specific issues to much larger issues.
(iv) Escalation of conflict: Once conflict starts, several other factors lead to escalation of conflict such as the following:
– Hardening of in-group opinion.
– Explicit threats directed at the out-group.
– Each group retaliating more and more.
– Other parties also choose to take sides.