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Attributions: people's explanation for why events or actions occur
Situational attribution: explanations of people's behavior that refer to external events, such as the weather, luck, accidents, or other people's action.
Personal attribution: explanations of people's behavior that refer to their internal characteristics, such as abilities, traits, moods, or efforts.
Social loafing is a phenomenon in which people tend to expend less effort on collective tasks than they do when performing the same task alone.
When it is difficult or impossible to assess each individual person's contribution to the collective effort, social loafing is prominent.
Generally, the greater number of people involved in a collective project, the smaller each individual's contribution will be.
However, social loafing is not inevitable in all group tasks. If we are in a group with people we know, we are in a valued group, or the task is meaningful or unique, social loafing is less likely to occur. Women are generally less likely to engage in social loafing than men.
Social loafing often occurs because the group goal is spread across all members of the group, so a reduced effort by each individual occurs. Social loafing can also occur because people expect members of the group to slack off, so they match the level of effort they expect each group member to display.
However, in collectivistic cultures, social loafing is generally reversed which is referred to as social striving.
Social striving is a phenomenon in which individuals work harder in groups than when they are alone.
Social loafing tens to be less pronounced in collectivistic cultures and social striving tends to be more pronounced because group success tends to be more valued than individual success in collectivistic cultures.
Ex: In the US, people tend to slack off in group projects (social loafing). Instead of doing the research, the writing, and the presentation, people may decide to do half of the work in one area, such as doing half of the research, and then decide not to do anything else to contribute. In Israel, people tend to work harder in group projects (social striving). Instead of giving minimal effort, people may offer to do the work in multiple areas of the project, such as doing all of the research and doing some of the presentation.