Suppose You Go to a High School and Identify Groups

question 37

Multiple Choice

Suppose you go to a high school and identify groups of students sitting at different lunch tables. To you it appears that everyone on the football team sits at one table, everyone who gets really high grades sits at another table, everyone who is in the drama club sits at another table, and so on.  This outcome could be

• A)the result of everyone preferring to sit at a table with dissimilar students, but not want to be at a table if he or she is in a 30 percent minority or less.
• B)because people naturally discriminate against (and make feel unwelcome)those people who are not like them.
• C)because the school authorities have instituted a one-week experimental plan to keep students segregated (at lunch)according to certain key interests.
• D)any of the scenarios presented here could be correct.

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Definitions:

Social Presence

The sense of being with others in a social interaction, which can affect behaviors, emotions, and attitudes.

Self-Awareness Theory

A psychological theory suggesting that when individuals focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values.

Divisible Task

A task that can be divided into smaller subtasks that can be completed independently or concurrently by different individuals.

Steiner's Taxonomy

A classification system developed by Ivan Steiner that categorizes group tasks into categories based on their nature and the processes required to achieve them.