托福口语 Task 3

Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to exert less effort when working in a group than when working alone. This phenomenon occurs because individuals feel less accountable for the final outcome and believe their personal contribution is less identifiable. Social loafing can reduce overall group productivity and is more likely to occur in large groups where individual performance is not easily evaluated. Researchers have studied this effect in various settings, including workplace teams and classroom projects.

Professor: Let me give you a real example from a study. We asked two groups of students to clap and shout as loudly as possible. In the first group, each student was tested individually, and we measured their sound output. In the second group, students were tested together as a whole group, but we still measured the total sound. Surprisingly, when we calculated the average sound per person in the group, it was much lower than the individual average in the first group. Students in the group felt that their own effort wouldn't be noticed, so they didn't push themselves. This clearly shows how social loafing happens when people think their contribution doesn't matter.