The explanations offered for social loafing are:
(A) Motivation of members decreases because they realise that their contributions will be evaluated on an individual basis.
(B) The performance of the group is not to be compared with other groups.
(C) Group members feel more responsible for the overall task being performed and therefore exert more effort.
(D) There is improper coordination among group members.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → (B) and (D) only
Social loafing is a reduction in individual effort when people work on a collective task whose outputs are pooled, as in a tug-of-war, where no one can tell how much force each member puts in.
(A) Motivation of members decreases because they realise that their contributions will be evaluated on an individual basis. Incorrect. Motivation drops because members realise that their contributions will not be evaluated individually. If each person’s work were judged separately, effort would go up, not down.
(B) The performance of the group is not to be compared with other groups. Correct. When there is no comparison with other groups, members see little reason to push hard, so effort falls.
(C) Group members feel more responsible for the overall task being performed and therefore exert more effort. Incorrect. In social loafing members feel less responsible for the whole task and therefore exert less effort. A statement about more effort cannot explain a reduction in effort.
(D) There is improper coordination among group members. Correct. Improper coordination, or none at all, means efforts are not combined well, and each member gives less.
Statement (A) lost a single ‘not’ and (C) turned ‘less’ into ‘more’; two true lines became false with tiny changes. Read every word of a statement before you tick it.
NCERT (2025-26): “Social Loafing … Why does social loafing occur? The explanations offered are:
|