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Social Influence and Group Processes – Class 12 Psychology notes, important questions and MCQs

NCERT Class 12 Psychology, chapter 7. Notes, key terms, important questions with answers and MCQs.

Chapter overview

A group is an organised system of two or more individuals who interact, are interdependent, share norms and roles, and have common goals. People join groups for security, status, self-esteem, satisfaction of needs and goal achievement. Groups go through stages of formation and influence individual behaviour through social facilitation, social loafing, group polarisation, conformity, compliance and obedience. Cooperation and competition shape relations between groups.

Groups and their influence

Groups differ from crowds and audiences; types include primary and secondary, formal and informal, in-groups and out-groups. Tuckman's stages of group formation: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
Group structure includes roles, norms, status and cohesiveness; groupthink (Irving Janis) occurs when highly cohesive groups make poor decisions by suppressing dissent.
Social facilitation is better performance on simple, well-learned tasks in the presence of others; social loafing is reduced individual effort in a group task; group polarisation is the strengthening of a group's initial position after discussion.

Conformity, compliance, obedience and intergroup relations

Conformity is changing behaviour to match group norms (Solomon Asch's line experiment); compliance is going along with a request without necessarily agreeing (techniques: foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face); obedience is following an authority's orders (Stanley Milgram's experiment).
Cooperation is working together for shared goals; Muzafer Sherif's summer camp study showed that competition creates hostility, while superordinate goals restore cooperation.
Social identity (Tajfel) gives people a sense of who they are through group membership; intergroup conflict arises from competition for resources and strong in-group identity, and can be reduced through contact, superordinate goals and redrawing group boundaries.

Key terms

Group: two or more interdependent individuals with shared norms and goals
Social loafing: reduced individual effort when working in a group
Groupthink: faulty decision-making in highly cohesive groups
Conformity: changing behaviour to match group norms
Superordinate goal: a goal that requires the cooperation of competing groups

Important questions with answers

What is social loafing?2 marks

Social loafing is the tendency of individuals to put in less effort when working in a group than when working alone, because individual contributions cannot be identified and responsibility is shared. It can be reduced by making individual efforts identifiable and increasing commitment.

Distinguish between conformity, compliance and obedience.3 marks

Conformity is changing behaviour to follow group norms without any direct request. Compliance is going along with a request from someone, even without agreeing. Obedience is following the direct orders of an authority figure. Obedience involves the most direct pressure, conformity the least.

Describe the stages of group formation and the factors in group structure.5 marks

Bruce Tuckman suggested that groups pass through five stages. In forming, members meet, there is uncertainty about the goal and how to achieve it, and they try to get to know each other. In storming, there is conflict among members about how to achieve the goal, who controls the group and what tasks each will do. In norming, members develop group norms and a sense of group identity and cohesion. In performing, the group structure is settled and the group works towards its goal. In adjourning, the group may be disbanded once the task is complete. Groups may not always pass through these stages in a fixed order. Group structure develops through four elements. Roles are socially defined expectations of how a person in a given position should behave. Norms are expected standards of behaviour shared by members, the group's unwritten rules. Status is the relative social position given to members by others, and higher status members often have more influence. Cohesiveness refers to togetherness, the binding force among members; highly cohesive groups have greater loyalty and conformity, but excessive cohesiveness can lead to groupthink, where the desire for agreement overrides careful analysis of alternatives.

Quick revision

Nature, types and formation of groups.
Group structure and groupthink.
Social facilitation, social loafing, polarisation.
Conformity, compliance, obedience; cooperation and conflict.

Exam tips

Remember Tuckman's stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning.
Distinguish conformity (group), compliance (request) and obedience (authority).

Practice MCQs

Reduced individual effort when working in a group is
1. social facilitation
2. group polarisation
3. social loafing
4. conformity
Show answer
Answer: (c) social loafing. Individual contributions are not identifiable.
Following the orders of an authority figure is
1. conformity
2. obedience
3. compliance
4. cooperation
Show answer
Answer: (b) obedience. Milgram studied it.
The famous line-judgement experiment on conformity was done by
1. Milgram
2. Tuckman
3. Sherif
4. Solomon Asch
Show answer
Answer: (d) Solomon Asch. Participants followed a wrong majority.
The stage of group formation marked by conflict over leadership is
1. forming
2. storming
3. norming
4. adjourning
Show answer
Answer: (b) storming. It comes after forming.
Faulty decision-making in highly cohesive groups is called
1. groupthink
2. social loafing
3. polarisation
4. deindividuation
Show answer
Answer: (a) groupthink. Irving Janis described it.
The summer camp experiment on intergroup conflict was conducted by
1. Muzafer Sherif
2. Asch
3. Milgram
4. Tajfel
Show answer
Answer: (a) Muzafer Sherif. Superordinate goals reduced hostility.
Asking a small favour first and then a larger one is the
1. door-in-the-face technique
2. foot-in-the-door technique
3. groupthink technique
4. obedience technique
Show answer
Answer: (b) foot-in-the-door technique. Agreeing to the small request increases compliance.
After discussion, a group that was slightly in favour of a risky plan becomes strongly in favour. This is
1. social loafing
2. conformity only
3. group polarisation
4. social facilitation
Show answer
Answer: (c) group polarisation. Initial positions become stronger.

All chapters of Class 12 Psychology

Written by Kundali IQ from standard, well-established facts to help with revision. This is not an official NCERT publication; always read your textbook too.