When all the good singers of class 9 were put together to make a choir, it was seen that there was a reduction in the amount of effort each member put in. What is this phenomenon called?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Social loafing
Option (1) Social facilitation — Incorrect. Social facilitation is the better performance of a person who does a task alone in the presence of others, because their presence arouses and motivates her or him when the task is a familiar one. The singers’ effort went down, not up.
Option (2) Social loafing — Correct. Social loafing is a reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task, one in which the outputs of all members are pooled. In a choir, no one can tell how much each singer contributes, so each puts in less, as in a game of tug-of-war.
Option (3) Social inhibition — Incorrect. Social inhibition is the decline in a person’s performance of an unfamiliar or new task when others are watching, because their presence raises arousal and the fear of being judged; for example, a beginner who fumbles on the keyboard when the whole class looks on. The singers were not nervous performers; they put in less effort as part of a group.
Option (4) Social polarisation — Incorrect. The recognised term is group polarisation: groups are more likely to take extreme decisions than individuals alone. It concerns decisions, not the effort members put into a task.
Note 1: The concept in Option (3), ‘social inhibition’, is not in the 2023-24 NCERT, which NTA followed in 2025, and is not in the NCERT book (2025-26) either; it was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, beside social facilitation. It has been explained here for the benefit of the students.
Note 2: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2023 on 30-05-2023 (Slot 2), and in CUET (UG) 2024 on 19-07-2024 (Slot 1).
NCERT (2025-26): “Social Loafing … Social facilitation research suggests that presence of others leads to arousal and can motivate individuals to enhance their performance if they are already good at solving something. This enhancement occurs when a person’s efforts are individually evaluated.…” “Social Loafing … Social loafing is a reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task, i.e. one in which outputs are pooled with those of other group members. An example of such a task is the game of tug-of-war. It is not possible for you to identify how much force each member of the team has been exerting. Such situations give opportunities to group members to relax and become a free rider.…” “Group Polarisation … Groups show another tendency referred to as ‘group polarisation’. It has been found that groups are more likely to take extreme decisions than individuals alone.…” |