Use attempts at manipulation for your benefit

Group Decision Making Learning Outcomes Describe the causes of group polarization. Explain the role of group harmony in groupthink. Identify the ways that groupthink undermines effective decision making. List steps that improve group decision making. Earlier we noted that groups are able to accomplish goals that individuals cannot accomplish on their own. One important goal of groups is to make decisions--hopefully, good decisions. Animal cultures--and cultural variation across highly intelligent, social species--abound. We are not the only ones actively responding to crisis. And we aren't the only ones whose lives are shaped by networks of relationships. Satellite technologies enable wildlife biologists to track families of sperm whales, populations of elephants, and colonies of gannets, contributing to an avalanche of recent research that highlights the complexity of social relationships and cultures in animals--and plants. Trees communicate with each other through fungal (or mycorrhizal) networks between their roots. Trees also provide habitat for other plants and animals. When we leave enough trees to support these networks of other species--and mycorrhizal networks--forests can regenerate and thrive. Social networks between trees promote faster recovery of forests. Monkeys catch on faster to new foraging techniques when they have stronger social networks. And networking among humpback whales can explain how many populations have returned to near historic numbers, as we saw in article four. These are not fast, explosive, and reactive movements. While we do leverage powerlifting movements such as squats, and bench, too much of these movements will slow you down if programmed incorrectly.

GETTING TO TOP SPEED The late Charlie Francis said, You need speed to endure it. After building good acceleration, getting to the top speed, and maintaining that speed is about enduring that speed. That is how it's done. We do a lot of acceleration work, then we increase the distance every two to three weeks. In the first two to three weeks of speed training consists of a lot of 10's and 20's, then in two to three weeks, we stretch out to 30m, 40m, or 60m. In another two to three weeks, we will do 20m, 30m, 60m, and maybe some 80m or 100m depending on the athletes playing position. A Football defensive lineman will not sprint more than 20m, but a wide receiver will do more than 60m. Indeed, many important decisions are made by groups rather than individuals: the U. Senate, the United Nations, congressional committees, juries, political action committees, hiring committees, boards of directors, city councils, award committees, and so forth. Two (or more) heads are better than one, right? In theory, groups have significant advantages over individuals when it comes to decision making. For instance, if four doctors are discussing a difficult medical problem, they can combine their unique knowledge and experience, consider diverse perspectives, and analyze alternative courses of action to determine which is best. Therefore, it seems like an obvious prediction that the doctors would make a better decision together than they would individually. In reality, however, the benefits of group decision making can be subverted by two psychological processes that get in the way of clear thinking: group polarization and groupthink. Group Polarization Imagine that, as part of a psychology experiment, you are asked to read scenarios describing people making decisions. One scenario describes a man deciding between taking a new job that pays a lot but may not last (a risky alternative) or keeping his current job, which pays less but is more stable (a conservative alternative). In fact, humpbacks recovered faster after the end of commercial whaling than researchers forecasted, despite contending with all kinds of issues, including shipping lanes, plastic pollution, and increasing underwater noise levels that have doubled in intensity every decade since the 1950s. Fred Sharpe, a humpback whale researcher, says the reason humpbacks recovered so quickly is that they are great social networkers.

If one group of humpbacks is using a hunting technique that is more effective, other humpbacks have a grass is always greener attitude that makes them try it out for themselves. They imitate and use successful innovations to their benefit. Inheriting resilience from mom and dad Coral reefs are highly threatened by climate change. In recent years we've witnessed wide-scale coral-bleaching events, with mass die-offs of corals and impacts on the fish who live within these communities. Yet remarkably, research reveals that some baby coral reef fish inherit tolerance to warming oceans, with help from their moms and dads. What we are finding, says lead researcher Philip Munday (professor of coral reef ecology at James Cook University in Australia), is a surprising amount of potential for fish to cope. This example is so complicated and representative of the unexpected capacities of other species, I'd like to spend a bit of time explaining it in more detail. One of my go-to methods in developing top speed is called In and Outs. For example, In a total distance of 60m, I will have the athlete accelerate as fast as possible to 20m, kick it into a higher gear for the next 20m, then maintain speed while being relaxed the last 20m. If the total distance was 90m, then I would have them do the same thing but in 30m blocks. Accelerate as fast as possible to the 30m, then in a relaxed state try to go faster, then on the last 30m we maintain the speed while in a relaxed state. That teaches you how to hit top speed and maintain top speed while relaxed. The common mistake I notice is athletes tend to tighten up and strain while at top speed which slows the athlete down. You want to be in a state of flow--moving lighting fast while relaxed. Always remember that you need speed to endure. The higher the intensity, the longer rest periods are needed to ensure high-quality work. This is not conditioning, this is speed work. After reading each scenario, you are asked which alternative you personally would choose. Next, you are asked to discuss the same scenarios with a group of participants and come to a joint decision about each scenario.

When do you think you would make riskier decisions: when thinking about the scenarios alone or discussing them with others as a group? Common sense would say that, during group discussions, people will put the brakes on one another's extreme views or rash proposals, and as a result, the group will make more conservative decisions. But when Stoner (1961) conducted a study like the one just described, he found the opposite result: Participants made riskier decisions as a group than they did on their own. This tendency came to be known as risky shift (Cartwright, 1971). The story gets more interesting, though. Researchers who followed up on these findings showed that, for some decisions, groups did in fact take more conservative, middle-of-the-road positions than did individuals. Why do groups, compared to individuals, sometimes make riskier decisions and other times make less risky ones? Do you remember how research on social facilitation initially found one thing, then the opposite, and eventually resolved the paradox and arrived at a broader understanding? Most coral reef fish are negatively affected by a water temperature increase of just a degree or two above the summer average. The change can impact their swimming ability and growth rate, and--since warm water holds less oxygen--their capacity to breathe. Yet, when Philip's lab reared spiny chromis damselfish parents, and then their offspring, in water that was three degrees Celsius (5. The baby coral reef fish were able to handle higher water temperatures when their parents were previously exposed to those conditions. It turns out the capacity for offspring to benefit from their parents' experiences doesn't just happen with fish. Daphnia, often called a water flea, is found in freshwater lakes, ponds, and puddles. The tiny crustacean can hatch with either a round head or a pointed head. If it shares the water with predators such as fish, midges, or other insects, spikes and spines help lessen its likelihood of being eaten. For many species of juvenile water fleas, whether or not they grow a defensive helmet depends on the experiences of their mother. If a mother Daphnia has been exposed to chemical cues of a particular predator while she is pregnant, Philip explains, then she produces lots more offspring with pointy heads. We want the top speed to be fast, and that is built with high intensity runs at 90% or higher max effort. Running fast, skating fast, sprinting fast, cutting quickly is not about the number of steps you can take.

It is how much ground you can cover through the applied force. You are flying over the ground. The best sprinters--fastest humans--in the world take less steps and have less ground contact time to cover a hundred-meter sprint. Usain Bolt, Ben Johnson, Maurice Greene, Justin Gatlin, Donovan Bailey, Tyson Gay, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Florence Griffith-Joyner, Carmelita Jeter, and Marion Jones, they all harness a tremendous quality of strength and producing that strength effectively. DO NOT GET DISTRACTED WITH THE PERFECT TECHNIQUE I remember when I was getting ready to run the first heat of the 200-meter. One of the kids looked jacked and lean in his flashy tights. He looked flawless, everyone was watching him. The same happened with research on group decision making. Researchers eventually discovered that when people discuss their opinions with like-minded others, the discussion exaggerates their initial leanings, leading the group to take a more extreme position than the individual group members held initially. This broader phenomenon (which came to replace the risky shift) is known as group polarization, meaning that group discussion shifts group members toward an extreme position, or pole (Moscovici & Zavalloni, 1969; Myers, 1982). Group polarization A tendency for group discussion to shift group members toward an extreme position. For example, if each individual member of the group initially leans toward a risky alternative prior to the group discussion, they shift toward an even riskier position after group discussion. Conversely, if group members initially prefer a more conservative alternative, group discussion shifts them toward extreme caution (Lamm et al. If group polarization exaggerates group members' initial leanings, then we would expect group discussion to intensify attitudes about a variety of topics, not just decisions about risk. This is indeed the case: When women who were moderately feminist discussed gender issues with each other, they became strongly feminist (Myers, 1975). Such astonishing malleability exists in other species too. If aphids are in a habitat with predators, their babies can develop wings and fly away.