📖 Reading Passage
Social loafing is a phenomenon in which individuals exert less effort when working in a group than when working alone. This reduction in motivation often occurs because people feel their individual contributions are less identifiable or less impactful within a collective. Social loafing can undermine group productivity and is more likely to occur in large groups or when tasks are simple and repetitive. Researchers have studied this effect across various settings, noting that it is not necessarily deliberate but rather a natural response to reduced personal accountability.
🎧 Listening Lecture
Professor: Let me give you an example from a study I conducted with my colleagues. We asked a group of students to clap and shout as loudly as possible, first alone and then in groups. When each student was tested individually, they produced an average of 80 decibels of noise. But when we put them in groups of six, the noise level per person dropped significantly—each individual contributed only about 60 decibels on average, even though the total sound was louder. Interestingly, the students didn't realize they were putting in less effort; they genuinely believed they were clapping and shouting just as hard. This happened because in the group, each person's contribution was less noticeable, so they felt less pressure to exert themselves. The same effect appeared when we asked them to pull a rope in a tug-of-war game—the larger the group, the less effort each person pulled.