Psych In Your World: Groups and Teams

By Andi Lassiter

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The “Psych In Your World” video series features short lectures by psychology professors at Minnesota State University, Mankato on a range of topics connected to psychology. These videos were created as resources for teachers of psychology at all levels. We also provide discussion questions for each video for you to use with your students.

In this video, industrial/organizational psychologist Dr. Andi Lassiter discusses research on groups and teams.

As you watch the video, think about the following questions: 

  • The three components of team performance are behavior, knowledge, and attitude. Discuss the implications it would have on teamwork if one of these components was missing. What if behavior was missing? What if knowledge was missing? What if attitude was missing? 

  • Can you give an example of how norms may influence teamwork?  

  • Have you experienced social loafing in groups? What are some ways that you think you could reduce social loafing?  


Resources

PODCAST: "Leadership on the Run" Episode: Building Teams 

Hear how the lead dog in a dog sled race possesses the same leadership required to drive human teams. Listen for what it takes to be a team leader: positive attitude, resilience, technical skill, willingness and ability to run well within a team 

This lesson plan contains additional discussion questions and activity ideas to go along with this video.