Demonstrating Group Polarization

Peter Gray (1993) suggests a simple exercise that readily demonstrates the group
polarization effect. Before lecturing on group decision making in Chapter 15, have your
students declare on a Likert scale how strongly they agree or disagree with some
statement or idea (Gray suggests the idea that the next exam should be essay rather
than multiple choice). Collect the responses and divide students into like-minded groups
for a short, 5-minute discussion. After the group discussion, have students rate their
agreement with the proposition again on the same Likert scale. The results should be
consistent with group polarization: those who initially agreed should agree more strongly
after group discussion, and those who initially disagreed should disagree even more
strongly after group discussion. According to Gray, asking your students to speculate
about the causes of the effect should generate the same explanations generated by
psychologists over the years (i.e., that members are exposed to new, persuasive
arguments, and that members gradually take a more extreme position in order to be
viewed positively by others). An added benefit is that, in addition to learning the group
polarization effect in a memorable way, students learn that they can successfully "think
like psychologists" in generating plausible explanations for observed events.
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