When a crowd of people clap or cheer, it is difficult to tell just how loud each individual is applauding or cheering. If people tend to clap louder when they are alone than when they are in a crowd, they are probably engaging in _______________.

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The question presents a situation about how loudly people clap or cheer and notes that individuals tend to clap louder when they are alone than when they are in a crowd. This invites us to consider how group presence affects individual effort.
Option 1: Social loafing. This concept describes the tendency for people to exert less effort when working in a group compared to when they are by themselves. In the scenario, the decrease in loudness when in a crowd aligns with the idea that individuals may coast or slack off in a group setting, which is consistent with social loafing.
Option 2: Cognitive dissonance. This refers to the psychological discomfort that arises from holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes, or from behaving in a way that conflicts with those beliefs. The clapping scenario does not involve conflicting beliefs or attitudes about the act, so this option misapplies the concept.
Option 3: Groupthink. This is a mode of thinking where the desire for harmony or conformity in a group leads to irrational or faulty decision-making. It typically concerns collective judgments and decisions, not the level of individual effort in a public performance like clapping, so it is not an accurate fit here.
Option 4: Social facilitation. This principle states that the presence of others can enhance performance on simple or well-learned tasks. If anything, social facilitation would predict people clapping more loudly in a crowd, not less, which makes this option opposite to the described behavior.
In summary, among the choices, the described pattern—lower effort or loudness in a crowd compared to alone—best matches the idea of social loafing, whereas the other options describe different social psychology phenomena that do not fit the given scenario.

PSYCH 3325 AU2025 (37320) Exam 2

When a crowd of people clap or cheer, it is difficult to tell just how loud each individual is applauding or cheering. If people tend to clap louder when they are alone than when they are in a crowd, they are probably engaging in _______________.

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