Group Decision-Making and Group Dynamics (7B) Practice Test

In a classroom project, students are randomly assigned to teams and told that the “honors cohort” teams will be highlighted on the department website. One team quickly starts referring to themselves as “the honors crew,” uses a shared logo on slides, and assigns speaking roles so that members with the strongest “honors vibe” present the key arguments. When a non-honors-identified member proposes an alternative approach, the group acknowledges it but assigns them to formatting tasks instead. The concept of interest is social identity theory. What outcome would be expected if social identity theory is applied to this situation?

A city planning committee holds a public meeting to choose between two transit proposals. Several committee members belong to the same neighborhood association and sit together, wearing association pins. Early in the meeting, the association members applaud one proposal, and a few unaffiliated members who initially favored the other proposal begin saying they are “fine either way” and stop offering counterarguments. The concept of interest is conformity. Which factor most contributes to conformity in the described context?