TOEFL Speaking Task 3

The concept of 'social loafing' refers to 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 contributions are less identifiable. Social loafing can reduce overall group productivity and is more likely to occur in large groups where individual performance is difficult to measure.

Professor: Today, let's look at social loafing in a real-world setting. In my psychology class a few years ago, I assigned a group project to my students. I divided them into teams of five and asked each team to write a single report. I noticed something interesting—some students did almost all the work, while others contributed very little. For instance, one student, Mark, spent hours researching and writing, but another student, Sarah, only attended meetings and never did any actual writing. When I asked Sarah why, she said, 'I thought the others would handle it.' This is a classic case of social loafing. Because the final grade was the same for everyone, Sarah didn't feel personally responsible for the quality. She knew her lack of effort wouldn't be obvious in a group of five. As a result, the report was not as good as it could have been. So, this example shows how social loafing can lower the overall performance of a group.