What is Social Loafing? (Definition + Examples)

>> Have you ever been

working on a group project

where it feels like

you're doing all the work?

If you're here,
you may have

a research paper or

some homework that
has to do with

the term social loafing.

But have no
worries, because

after watching this
video, hopefully,

you'll have a complete
understanding

of what social loafing is,

how it works, and

specific measures that you

can actually take
to prevent it.

So first off, what
is social loafing?

Social loafing occurs when

an individual is doing
less when working

in a group as
opposed to putting

forth full effort if
they were working alone.

Maximilian Ringelman
discovered it in

1913 when he noticed group

pulling power in
a tug-of-war game

was less than the sum of

the individual's
strengths.

In fact, the average
contribution decreased

each time more people were

added to the
tug-of-war game.

Now this phenomenon
suggests members put

in less effort as
group size grows.

This thought
makes a mockery

of the idea that putting

people in the teams

encourages them
to work harder.

Now, this could cause an

entire human resource team

to have palpitations.

This is, however, only
half of the truth,

as I'm going to

explain in the rest
of this video.

So let's get into
some examples real

quick so you can
understand it better.

Here's a really
quick example.

Tug of war, group
homework projects,

an entertainer asking
an audience to scream,

are all examples
of social loafing.

Because as you add more
people to the group,

the total group
effort declines.

So tug-of-war is a
perfect example because

it's where

Maximilian Ringelman
originally found it.

He realized
that as you add

more people to a
tug-of-war game,

the amount of
pressure did not

exactly scale
up perfectly.

In fact, the more
people you add,

the less each
individual worked.

Group homework projects

are another great example.

We've all seen the
meme where one student

does all the work and

the others get the grade.

Those who don't work on

the project are considered
social loafers.

And have you ever been at

a concert or an event,

or somewhere where
the main speaker

asks the audience to

stand up or maybe yell
something or clap?

This is a perfect
place for

social loafing to happen.

Sometimes the
speaker may even

say something like, I
wasn't loud enough.

Well, interestingly,
the same

thing happens
as tug of war.

As you add more
people to the group,

they are less likely to

participate in
whatever the

speaker is asking
them to do.

So after examples,
let's get into

the psychology behind
social loafing.

What causes it?

Team members begin loafing

socially when
they feel that

they're not going
to achieve much.

And therefore they
conclude that

their participation
is optional.

So here are two
main reasons that

psychologists
have found that

contribute to
social loafing.

The first one is a loss of

a sense of individual
responsibility.

Ringelman's
experiment with a

tug-of-war team showed how

personal responsibility
seems to

evaporate according
to team size.

Now, the best
sports team coaches

achieve incredible
results when they hold

their team together
and motivate

individual players as well

as the collective team.

It's also really important

for these coaches to know

their team's needs so

that whenever
they need space,

they can give
them space to

let each player
let off steam.

The second thing that

causes social loafing is

reduced belief in the
value of contributions.

So if a team member feels

their impact will
not be worth much,

especially in a much
larger team setting,

they may decide to
back off and enjoy

the ride at the expense

of the other people
on the team.

Now, this is one of

the main reasons
many of us don't

volunteer for projects or

take up leadership
positions.

We just don't think that
we have much to add.

It's probably also why

half of the
American population

stays away from the polls

during presidential
elections.

In many cases, the
individual that

is loafing may not
even realize it.

I also want to mention
another common thing

is the division of

an ingroup and
outgroup members.

Now, this is common
during homework projects,

but I think we can find it

everywhere in
the world today.

The third part
of this video, I

want to give you
some tips on how to

manage social
loafing through

a little bit
of motivation.

So there are three
ways that we can

actually get a group

moving in the
right direction.

These strategies
are collaboration,

content, and choice.

And it sounds a
little interesting,

but this is what

psychologists have
come up with.

This plan is a healthy

alternative to encouraging

competition because
it seems to

reinforce a
collective dynamic.

Now it's important to
remember that this

works best during
collective practices.

So the first one
is collaboration,

and that means
each team member

has their own
meaningful task.

For example, the
worst social loafer

can be allocated
to keeping

minutes of meetings and
distributing them so

that they don't have

a place to hide,
so to say.

The goal here is
to get each member

in your group to
do something,

and if they don't do it,

hold them responsible.

Secondly, we have content.

And that refers
to the importance

of a team member's task

and how well that task

suits their personal
attributes.

For example, a person

who likes
socially engaging

could be an ideal person

to lead a
brainstorming session.

And allocating
tasks according to

each person's talent
is a great motivator.

It gives each person
a time to shine.

Lastly, we have choice.

Choice is equally
important because it puts

ownership on the person or

the person making
that choice.

Excessive social
loafing will be less

desirable to them because

they'll have more
important things to do.

Basically, the idea
of this third one is

to let each person

decide what they
want to do.

So basically,
collaboration

is holding everyone
accountable.

Content is letting people

do what they do best,

and choice is letting

them choose what
they want to do.

So wrapping it
up, managing

social loafing
attempts to make

a positive contribution to

the soft non-task-related

aspects of group
functioning.

Collaboration,
content, and choice.

Those things that I
went over provide

a great framework for

group leaders
to manage it.

I think actually just
remembering each of

these can help someone
manage social loafing.

However, groups
should also

self-optimize from
the bottom up,

not be driven
from the top.

And what this means
is that teams

work much better when

each individual member is

driven to do what
they want to do,

how they want to do
it, instead of having

one person at the top

telling them what to do.

I hope this short
little video

on social loafing
helped you

maybe understand
why it works

and also how to manage,

especially if
you're the one

that's been doing
all the work.

Thank you so much for
watching this video.

If you have any questions

about social loafing,

feel free to
leave them below.

Subscribe if you
haven't already,

and I hope to see you
in the next video.