Goodbye Stranger

Hey everyone!

This week we learned about how people behave in groups. And as I’m sure will be true for almost everyone this week, the concept that resonated with me most strongly was that of social loafing. This occurs when a member of a group puts in less effort than the other members of the group, and also less effort than if they were trying to fulfill the group’s goals on their own. Latané and colleagues (1979) coined this term in their study on the volume of participants’ screams when told they’re either alone or in the presence of others. It turned out that people put in less effort when they believed they were in a group, presumably because they believed that other people would compensate for their lack of enthusiasm.

I could recount one of my many horror stories regarding social loafing, such as the person in my business capstone who literally lied to both me, his only partner for the project, and the professor about completing his work. There was also a person in my main business capstone four-person group (I believe she has been referred to as Demon Harlot Spawn or something to that effect) who put zero effort into her work, which necessitated the other three members’ working overtime to transform it into something presentable.

I could recount those horror stories, but I guess I already did without meaning to.

But I also have an example of when I, myself, loafed socially.

(I’m sure it’s the only example that exists.)

When I was a wee tot in the 5^th grade, I played in the school band. I was second of five trombones, and I had a great time. For practicing I mostly just figured out songs by ear rather than play the assigned pieces, which is something I’ve continued to enjoy since on other instruments.

But, that summer, tragedy struck, and I had to get braces.

Braces cause a pain in your mouth not unlike a broken bone. Sharp, stabbing pains at first, and then a dull, throbbing, unyielding ache for the next six months until they’ve moved.

Unless you play a brass instrument, and have to shove a piece of curved metal against your lips every afternoon. In that case, braces cause constant pain. The metal bites into your lip as you play, and the sensitive teeth resent being pressed on after being pulled fifteen miles through solid gum.

In other words, playing the trombone hurt. But I couldn’t quit the band. I had to get my fine arts credit to “graduate” intermediate school.

So... I loafed.

I pretended to play the horn. I went through all the motions (which are quite large on a trombone), but I wouldn’t apply enough pressure to hurt myself, or to be able to play.

This went on for the rest of the year, and I took up a different fine art (theatre) in junior high.

Recently, I found out that proper brass technique doesn’t even require you to jam your mouthpiece into your face. I could’ve had it all. (Rolling in the deep.) I didn’t need to give up playing, and if I’d just done something crazy like ask the band director he probably could’ve told me that.

Speaking of music in a vague way, there are no Rush songs about social loafing. I know; I’m as surprised as you are. But they do have a song about how different groups conflict, which is more relevant to the chapter than other songs I’ve used in the past! It’s a critique of nationalism, suggesting that we’ll never truly end conflict until we recognize that our true affiliation is not to our country, but to our species.

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Latané, B., Williams, K., & Harkins, S. (1979). Many hands make light the work: The causes and consequences of social loafing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 822–832.

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