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Do Groups Corrupt People
Do Groups Corrupt People
Do Groups Corrupt People
(Name)
(University Name)
Social Psychology 2
individuals and whether such groups corrupt individuals or not. This will be answered in light of
the principles and theories of social psychology. Similarly, the essay will talk about what an
individual does for groups and vice versa. Classical research will be included in this regard.
Factors through which groups badly influence the individuals will also be discussed. Historical
trends in social psychology will also be discussed for attempting to answer this question. The
conclusion in the end will summarize the discussion. The thesis statement of this essay is that
groups largely corrupt individuals in that the personal will and attitudinal approach of the
individuals is lost and they eventually do what the groups requires individuals to do.
A group is defined as two or more people who interact for longer than a few moments
and attempt to influence one another as well as perceive each other as one unit (Stangor, 2004).
Research shows that when we are surrounded by individuals in the form of a group, the speed
and agility of the individuals improve, as people are able to solve difficult problems in easier
manner (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). Similarly, accuracy is also improved through which people
can perform longer tasks in short period of time. This means that the social facilitation within a
group leads to help people in terms of their efficiency and accuracy (Cummings & Cross, 2003).
However, one of the fundamental principles of social psychology states that groups largely
corrupt individuals. This is not just true in political sense, but also in any other sort of setting.
The group thinking will influence the attitude, behaviour, tone and overall mood of the
individual (Nolan et al., 2008). The corruption in this regard refers to the effect of the group
thinking, which can either be good or bad (Hopper & Weinberg, 2011). When an individual is
communicating with a group of individuals, his personal behaviour and attitude will change, and
Social Psychology 3
he will eventually adopt group practices. Therefore, such a situation means that individuals will
The recent research suggests that the group environment is helpful for the individuals in
terms of their character formation (Pickren et al., 2012). However, the main subject has never
been discussed whether the process through which such groups are able to influence as well as
challenge the moral character, behaviour and disposition of individuals is fair or not. When
individuals participate in the extracurricular activities or religious activities, their moral outlook
is heavily influenced (Rothbart & Korostelina, 2006). This means that there is a direct concern
between the moral behaviour and attitude of individuals and group activities. The main rationale
behind this is that when the individuals spend more time within a group of specific people
carrying out specific activities, then they will be psychologically as well as socially influenced.
There are different types of groups. Some of the groups are joined by individuals
voluntarily and in some groups individuals have to be a part, as it is their responsibility (Forsyth,
2010). Every individual joins these groups, because groups are a part of one’s social life. This is
the reason that groups influence pretty much every individual. Similarly, individuals are also
able to influence the groups but at a very minor level. The individuals form their attitude based
on the group influence. In this regard, the individuals also learn about the acceptable as well as
unacceptable patterns of behaviour. Here comes the main role and influence of groups on the
individuals. Sometimes, the members of the groups declare a moral thing immoral and vice
versa. For example, a group might influence an individual to lie about his personality, as it would
not be harmful. These are the unacceptable norms and patterns of behaviour in our society, and
humans are not supposed to act this way, but the influence of group makes individuals do so
(Hecther & Opp, 2005). Additionally, such unacceptable patterns of behaviour and attitude make
Social Psychology 4
individuals not following the social norms, and which are also immoral. Hence this can be said
that where groups can influence the individuals to learn about different new behavioural patterns,
there are negative things too that they learn due to which they become corrupt and their morality
Another fact is that the social norms basically govern the behaviours of individuals. In
this regard, each individual has a choice to join a particular group, and thus he or she also has to
subscribe to a particular group, which will follow certain norms and will drive individual
behaviours in a certain way (Cook, 2003). The individuals are psychologically influenced by the
groups in a way that they will also have to approve and disapprove those practices and norms as
well as behaviours that the groups approve or disapprove. By doing so, the individual morality is
the bad practices and norms of a group. This also means that the group largely maligns the
individual thinking and attitude about a particular aspect of our society (Cook, 2003). This is an
argument from the psychological end and not in the social respect. Furthermore, this actually
means that the individuals do not become capable to think and reflect about issues themselves
and become victim of the group thinking. Whatever the group says is largely acceptable by the
individuals, and they do not even have second thoughts about what is being talked about.
Therefore, when the individuals are influenced by the group in terms of the specific pattern of
thinking, behaviour and attitude, then this would mean that the groups have largely corrupted the
individual’s moral formation (Cook, 2003). This also suggests that the individuals tend to avid
those things that are disapproved by the groups and do those that the groups approve. In this
regard, it is also essential to identify how an individual is important for a group and vice versa.
Social Psychology 5
Another important point is that what an individual does for a group, and vice versa. These
An individual is the basic component through which a group is formed. A group consists
of two or more individuals who have a shared goal of achieving something. The individual is
motivated by the group through different factors. In this regard, individual also plays his role for
the group. An individual plays the role of initiating something within the group he is a part of.
He similarly also defines the rules of the group that is formed by including him in that. Group
members develop opinions on a certain subject through which different issues are clarified and a
major view is obtained which is adopted by all the individuals later (Levine & Moreland, 2006).
In this regard, individual also has his opinion, which is merged later into the group opinion.
Similarly, an individual will maintain one or multiple roles within a group. The group is
basically an association of individuals, so all the individuals are associated with one another for
achieving a cause, for which every individual will play his distinct role. Maintenance of roles
expressing. However, there are also very controversial roles in a group, which are played by the
individuals themselves and groups do not have any influence on this individual roles (Levine &
Moreland, 2006). For example, as mentioned before that group is formed for achieving a
particular cause. In this regard, individuals have to perform responsible roles. However, it
happens sometimes that an individual plays a negative role by becoming more degrading,
withdrawing, uncooperative and dominating towards others. In this respect, the individual is
simply trying to corrupt the other individuals in the group by influencing his personal view
(Levine & Moreland, 2006). So this means that the individual also has to be socially responsible
Social Psychology 6
when he is acting in a group, as otherwise he will only cause a bad and corrupt influence in the
A group influences an individual through several different ways. Most of the factors in
this respect are personal in nature. These can be known as egoistic, emotional and achievement
factors. When it comes to egoistic factors, it means that every individual has a personal pride as
well as a sense of personal value. In this regard, the group tries to influence the behaviour and
attitude of an individual in such a way that he acts in accordance to his own self-esteem and
values. Personal values of an individual are also subject to change based on the sort of influence
exercised by the group over individual. Similarly, every group has a role to play through which
the individuals can achieve something (Provis, 2016). This is also considered as the main
purpose for which a group is formed by the individuals. In this respect, the achievement oriented
attitude of the individual will be affected if the group does influence in negative way. An
individual will only try to bring his skills on the table when the group supports and encourages
him to do so. If the purpose is not being served in a better manner, then the individual’s attitude
to achieve to something will be devalued and he will behave in a way that will not be beneficial
Furthermore, a group also caters to the emotional needs of the individual. Individuals
primarily aim to join groups in order to derive a plethora of their emotional needs. Groups can
provide an emotional support to the individuals in times of sorrow, happiness, anger and
loneliness etc. (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). In this regard, the group has a very important role to
play for individual. However, if the group does not play its role, then the essence of its
foundation in view of individual is lost, and the latter also does feel corrupted as the group
The above discussion has so far established the relation between group influence and
individual’s formation of morality. Similarly, the discussion has also been made on what
individuals do for a group and what groups give back to individuals in return. In this regard, this
is main part of discussion that whether the groups corrupt people or not. Based on the above
thesis, it will be asserted here that groups influence individuals in a way that their attitudes and
behaviours change and their choices and thinking are corrupted (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004).
This can be established with the help of different historical trends and classical principles of
In this regard, Zimbardo conducted a study related to Stanford Prison Experiment. His
study revealed that social roles have a major influence on the behaviours of individuals. In this
experiment, different participants were given different roles such as prisoner and guard etc.
Guards were equipped with sticks and Prison wore chains and prisoner dress. The guards acted
ruthlessly in this experiment. This study showed that the individuals in the prisoner were heavily
influenced by the acts of guards as these individuals submitted to what the guards asked them to
do (Carnahan & McFarland, 2007). The cognitive dissonance theory was also reflected in this
experiment. It was also seen that the individuals’ thinking was largely corrupted and they
assumed that the prison environment is bad. Similarly, the group of prisoners was involved in the
Similarly, Bibb Latane presented the social impact theory, according to which he
presented the mathematical equations for predicting the level of impact of society on individuals
in particular situations. Based on this theory, Latane argued that there is a bystander effect or
bystander apathy in case of most of the situations where when the individual is in need of help
from others, the others in the group would not help him (Fiske, 2013). This is a psychological
Social Psychology 8
phenomenon that is largely present in many of our social settings. The people exhibiting deviant
behaviours are also seen doing this when they are in a group. In most of the situations, this
theory suggests that the individuals will feel helpless and so when they are put in certain
situation where someone else is in need, they will not be included to help others. So the
individuals become corrupt in many ways due to group influence in different social contexts.
Furthermore, Darley also presented another theory of social impact in which he argued
that individuals’ social behaviour is largely influenced by the groups of which individuals are
part of. Darley also gave the same view as was given by Latane that the individuals will not be
helping others when there are people in the surroundings (Hogg & Tindale, 2008). This
behaviour arises among individuals because they feel that others should help the individual in
need and they do not need to take this initiative of helping the person out. So the views given by
Zimbardo, Darley and Latane suggest that there is a great influence of groups on the social
behaviours of individuals, due to which they often behave in a negative manner when they are
Lastly, it can be said that the central question of groups corrupting people has been
answered in light of the principles and theories of social psychology. The essay has talked about
what an individual does for groups and vice versa. Classical research has been included in this
regard. Factors through which groups badly influence the individuals have also been discussed.
Historical trends in social psychology have also been discussed in that how the individuals have
been influenced by the groups while they assumed different roles and responsibilities. Based on
the socio-historical narrative about group thinking presented by Zimbardo, Latane and Darley,
this can hence be concluded that that groups largely corrupt individuals in that the personal will
Social Psychology 9
and attitudinal approach of the individuals are lost and they eventually do what the groups
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