Social Loafing

When people work together, it seems reasonable to expect a group to accomplish more than the same number of people working alone. Research has shown, however, that individuals often put in less effort when they work as part of a group. Psychologists call this tendency social loafing.

One of the earliest studies was carried out by the French engineer Max Ringelmann, who asked men to pull on a rope as hard as they could, either alone or in groups. [A] As the groups grew larger, the average force produced by each person decreased. [B] Part of this decrease may have been caused by poor coordination, since people in a group do not always pull at exactly the same moment. [C] In 1979, however, the psychologists Bibb Latané, Kipling Williams, and Stephen Harkins showed that effort also drops for another reason. They asked people to shout or clap as loudly as possible, either alone or, they were told, together with others. [D] Even when participants only believed they were part of a group, they made less noise.

Social loafing is less likely when each person's contribution can be identified and evaluated. It also decreases when people care about the task or work with friends. For this reason, many teachers who assign group projects ask students to report what each member contributed.