A group of students were playing tug-of-war as an activity during their games period. Some students gradually reduced their efforts thinking that there are many people who are pulling and so it would not make a difference if they reduced their effort. Identify the concept:-
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Social Loafing
Option (1) Group Polarisation — Incorrect. Group polarisation is the finding that groups are more likely to take extreme decisions than individuals alone. It concerns decisions, not effort on a shared task.
Option (2) Group Think — Incorrect. Groupthink, described by Irving Janis, is a process in which a cohesive group’s concern for unanimity overrides a realistic appraisal of its courses of action, leading to poor decisions.
Option (3) Social Loafing — Correct. Social loafing is a reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task, one in which the outputs of members are pooled. Tug-of-war is the very example: no one can tell how much force each member exerts, so some relax and become free riders.
Option (4) Social Facilitation — Incorrect. Social facilitation refers to a person performing alone in the presence of others; the arousal this brings can improve performance. Here the effort fell, inside a group.
NCERT (2025-26): “Influence of Group on Individual Behaviour … We will discuss two situations : (i) an individual performing an activity alone in the presence of others (social facilitation), and (ii) an individual performing an activity along with the others as part of a larger group (social loafing).…” “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.…” |