I am always the first to groan when professors announce the "fun" group project assignments on the first day of class. From the beginning, I dread the day that group work will begin, and I will once again get stuck with all of the responsibility. I often find myself pulling more weight than others in my group mainly because I like to do things well and on-time. That’s not to say that I always pull off completing tasks with ease and exemplary presentation, but I do at least get things done! The social psychological term for individual effort being reduced in a compiled effort task is Social Loafing (Latane, 1979). I have been acutely aware of this effect because I have had many experiences with being the victim of other’s social loafing. Although social loafing on group projects has not been as prevalent in college, I can still think of quite a few times that I experienced this lack of individual effort in a group task.
In a history class last semester, I was once again assigned the dreaded group project and was not prepared to be the over-loaded victim of my group’s social loafing. Before the groups had even been assigned, I had already decided that I would withhold my own efforts so that I would not be given the main burden of the work. I was not aware at the time, but I was experiencing the sucker effect (Houldsworth & Mathews, 2000; Kerr, 1983; Shepperd, 1993a). I was anticipating my group’s social loafing, and I did not want to become the “sucker,” so I chose not to put forth as much effort as the others. However, when the groups were assigned, I realized that I was prematurely and unfairly judging the other members. I remembered what it was like to feel that others were undeservingly benefiting from my hard work, and chose to put forth my best effort in order to do well on the project. I was fortunate enough to have other group members who also put in their fair share of work, and we ended up getting a great grade on our video presentation. The experience made me understand that it is tempting to give in to the sucker effect. But the maturity and hard work of those around me made me take personal responsibility for my own part in the project, and I was able to avoid any effects of social loafing.
References
Houldsworth, C., & Mathews, B. P. (2000). Group composition, performance and educational attainment. Education and Training, 42, 40-53.
Kerr, N. L. (1983). Motivation losses in small groups: asocial dilemma analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 819-828.
Latane, B., Williams, K., & Harkins, S. (1979). Many hands make light the work: The causes and consequences of social loafing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27, 822-832.
Shepperd, J.A. (1993a). Productivity loss in performance groups: A motivation analysis: Psychological Bulletin, 113, 67-81.
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2 comments:
I, too, am usually the hard working person in the dreaded group project. Because of my bad experiences with group projects, I tend to give in to the sucker effect as well; I don't want to be the only one working hard on a project and I want other members to be just as accountable for working as I am. Fortunately, it sounds like your group was cohesive and very motivated to do well.
I don't know many people who actually like doing group projects...I know I don't! I think that some of the best groups that I have been in is where everyone has to end up completing something on their own. The research methods projects for example all worked out well because we would each have to write our own papers. The projects that I absolutely hate are group papers. They never have made sense to me and it is always hard to get timing right (because some sections depend on other sections) and writing styles to mesh. Fortunately, I haven't had any group project catastrophes this year!
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