24.4: Group Polarization

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Group decisions are often more extreme than the decisions their members would make if they were acting alone. The first example of this that was studied by social scientists was the risky shift.

The risky shift occurs when people who take part in a group discussion are willing to support riskier decisions than they would individually, before the group discussion. This has been found in numerous studies. Many of them employ a questionnaire in which a person or group is asked what the probability for success would have to be to recommend the riskier (but more profitable) of two options. For example, how likely does the prospect for success need to be to warrant switching to a job with higher chances of advancement but also higher chances of failure?

Many decisions in the real world are made by groups, so the question naturally arises, whether these are riskier than decisions made by individuals would have been. (Can you think of any examples?)

More recent research has also found evidence of a conservative shift. This is just the opposite of a risky shift; it occurs when people in a group decide to support less risky decisions than they would individually. Both shifts are examples of a more general process of group polarization, which can lead either to riskier or to more cautious decisions, depending on the initial views of group members. A risky shift tends to occur when the views of group members already incline towards being risky. A conservative shift tends to occur when they already incline towards being conservative.

Group polarization can affect attitudes as well as decisions. For example, it has been found that students with relatively little racial prejudice became less prejudiced after discussing racial issues, whereas students who began with prejudices emerged from the group discussion with even stronger prejudices. Similar results have been found on the issue of women’s rights and many other topics.