24.2: Social Loafing

Members of a group often do less work, and do it less well, than they would if they were working alone. This phenomenon is called social loafing. One reason for social loafing seems to be a diffusion of responsibility. Each member of a group feels less responsibility and accountability for the work than they would if they had the sole responsibility. This is confirmed by the fact that social loafing can be reduced if each member of a group has a specific task or if each member is accountable for the work that they do.

Many college classes feature group projects. Most students are not enthralled with group work, and the most common objection is precisely that it promotes social loafing, so that some people do more than their share of the work. One way to reduce social loafing is to assign each member of the group a specific role, and to grade them on their contribution to the group. Social loafing is relevant in understanding the dynamics of groups and in explaining the behavior of their members. Both are related to reasoning, but in this chapter, we will focus on several topics that involve reasoning even more directly.