Group Influence

There are many different ways that groups influence individuals. One common example of this is deindividuation. This is the concept of "getting lost in the crowd" or becoming one with your surroundings of the crowd. Examples of this are riots or being in a large, rowdy fan base at a sporting event. This whole concept is based on group size and conformity. People are likely to conform to very large groups.

Some forms of group influence that affect me most personally include deindiviuation, and social loafing. Before you get the wrong idea about my work ethic, I am not the social loafer of groups! Simply, I have been in tons of groups where there is a social loafer. A social loafer is someone who doesn't pull their own weight with the group. Social loafing is the reduction in motivation and effort when individuals work collectively compared with when they work individually. I can also relate to my sporting event example in the previous paragraph as I am a very faithful fan to my sporting teams. Thus, I too get lost in the crowd at sporting events and stop caring what people may think of me (because they're doing this too).

Group influence can be a positive or negative force based on the intent. For example, deindividuation at a football game as a supportive fan is a positive force. On the other hand, deindividuation during the LA riots in the 90's was an extremely negative force. It all depends what the outcome and intent of the group influence has.

A strategy that I have developed for dealing with group influence is to be aware of my surroundings in large groups and take longer periods of time to make decisions so that I know they are my own. Conformity isn't as easy, by doing this, and you know for sure that the decision about the actions you are about to do are yours.