#groupdynamics — Public Fediverse posts

DATE: August 6, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: Gratitude makes people more helpful, but it doesn’t overcome the bystander effect

URL: https://www.psypost.org/gratitude-makes-people-more-helpful-but-it-doesnt-overcome-the-bystander-effect/

A recent study published in Cognition and Emotion indicates that feeling grateful increases a person’s willingness to help others, even in group settings. However, experiencing gratitude does not make individuals immune to the bystander effect, a psychological phenomenon where people are less likely to intervene when more potential helpers are present. The findings suggest that gratitude boosts overall helpfulness but does not change our tendency to hold back when responsibility can be shared with a crowd.

Gratitude is a positive emotion triggered when someone receives a benefit from another person. This feeling often transforms receivers into givers by motivating them to act in a prosocial manner. Prosocial behavior refers to actions intended to benefit others, such as donating money or assisting a stranger. Past studies provide evidence that gratitude promotes these helpful behaviors more effectively than a neutral mood or other positive emotions.

Most earlier experiments focused on situations involving just one potential helper and one person in need. In everyday life, people frequently encounter situations where multiple individuals could step in to provide assistance. When multiple people are present, the bystander effect often takes hold, describing how individuals become less likely to offer help as the number of potential helpers increases.

People hesitate in groups because of a diffusion of responsibility, meaning they feel less personally accountable when others are around. They also experience uncertainty about whether someone else will act or if their own intervention is even needed. The authors designed their experiment to see if the motivational power of gratitude could overcome this hesitation.

“While the prosocial benefits of gratitude are well-documented, previous studies have mainly focused on simple bilateral situations,” said Ryuji Oguni, a psychology lecturer at Shujitsu University and visiting researcher at Ritsumeikan University. “In daily life, however, helping opportunities often occur in groups where multiple people could intervene. We wanted to bridge this gap by examining whether gratitude continues to promote helping in complex group contexts where people become less likely to help as the number of available helpers increases, a phenomenon known as the bystander effect.”

The authors recruited 867 participants through a Japanese crowdsourcing platform. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three emotional states: gratitude, calm, or neutral. To induce these emotions, the scientists asked participants to write about specific past experiences for five minutes.

Those in the gratitude group recalled a time they felt sincerely thankful for someone’s help. The calm group recalled a relaxing time spent with someone else, which controlled for general positive feelings, low arousal, and the presence of others in the memory. The neutral group wrote about their standard morning routine.

After the emotion-induction exercise, participants completed a resource allocation task. The researchers assigned all participants the role of a potential helper who received ten digital points. They were paired with a hypothetical person in need who had zero points. Participants had to decide whether to give five of their points to the receiver or keep all ten points for themselves, knowing these points would later translate to real monetary compensation.

To test the bystander effect, the task varied the number of potential helpers. Participants made decisions in three separate scenarios: one where they were the only potential helper, one where there were three potential helpers, and one where there were five. The researchers explicitly informed participants that only one person’s contribution was needed to help the receiver.

If multiple people chose to give five points, the extra points would be wasted, and the givers would still lose their points. The participants made their choices privately, without knowing what the other potential helpers decided to do.

The results demonstrated a bystander effect across all participants. As the number of potential helpers increased from one to three to five, the likelihood of a participant giving away their points steadily declined. This indicates that participants evaluated their personal responsibility based on group size, choosing to help less frequently when others could theoretically take on the cost.

The scientists also found that gratitude promoted helpfulness. Participants in the gratitude condition were more likely to give away their points compared to those in the neutral condition. An exploratory analysis of the data indicated that individuals who reported higher levels of gratitude were generally more willing to share their resources, regardless of group size.

The calm group also experienced a slight increase in gratitude during the memory exercise. Recalling a pleasant social experience inadvertently brought up feelings of appreciation. This moderate increase in gratitude slightly elevated their helping behavior compared to the neutral group.

The study did not find evidence that gratitude moderates the bystander effect. The drop in helping behavior as group size increased was nearly identical across the gratitude, calm, and neutral groups. Being in a grateful state increased the overall baseline of giving, but it did not change how participants reacted to the presence of other potential helpers.

This finding suggests a separation between how people feel and how they calculate their role in a group setting. “We were particularly intrigued to find that emotional motivation and cognitive evaluation may operate somewhat independently,” Oguni told PsyPost. “Gratitude appears to increase people’s motivation to help, while the tendency to adjust helping based on group size remains.”

Even with this limitation, the authors note that applying these findings to daily life still offers benefits. “Although gratitude does not eliminate the bystander effect, its positive main effect may nevertheless have practical relevance,” Oguni explained. “In group settings where responsibility is diluted, cultivating gratitude may raise the baseline probability that someone will step up. Over repeated daily interactions, even small shifts in helping behavior could potentially have meaningful cumulative effects.”

The researchers caution against viewing positive emotions as a standalone solution for increasing cooperation in organizations. “A potential misinterpretation would be assuming that gratitude eliminates bystander hesitation altogether,” Oguni noted. “Although gratitude may be a relatively simple way to encourage helping, relying on emotional cultivation alone might not suffice in large group settings. In workplaces or communities, gratitude cultivation may be most effective when complemented by structural changes that explicitly define individual roles and responsibilities.”

The experimental design introduces certain constraints on how these findings apply to real-world scenarios. The study used an anonymous online point system where only one person’s help was required and excess help provided no extra benefit. In everyday life, emergencies often require cooperative efforts from multiple people, and a person in need might visibly benefit from all available assistance.

The online task also prevented participants from seeing whether the other bystanders chose to help or do nothing. This lack of visibility is something the authors plan to address in upcoming studies. “In this study, participants couldn’t observe or communicate with other bystanders,” Oguni said. “In real-world environments, we often observe whether others are stepping up or staying passive. My next steps involve exploring how real-time social feedback and the ability to observe other bystanders’ behavior alter gratitude’s influence in group contexts.”

The study, “Does gratitude moderate the bystander effect? A registered report,” was authored by Ryuji Oguni, Yukari Jessica Tham, and Chikara Ishii.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/gratitude-makes-people-more-helpful-but-it-doesnt-overcome-the-bystander-effect/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Gratitude boosts helping #BystanderEffect #ProsocialBehavior #GroupDynamics #SocialPsychology #HelpingBehavior #GratitudeResearch #CognitionAndEmotion #Volunteerism #EthicalImpact

Organisational Dysfunction of the Day

Them and us

Context: There is a clear divide in the organisation. It might be between IT and the business, between development and operations, between project teams competing for the same resources, between headquarters and the regions, or simply between management and everyone else. People talk about the other group with mild contempt or resigned frustration. Collaboration across the boundary is effortful, slow, and often fraught. Everyone acknowledges it is a problem. Workshops are held, values are restated, and leadership talks about being one team. The divide persists.

OST explains: This is one of the most reliable products of DP1, understood since Kurt Lewin's group dynamics research in the 1940s. Three characteristic features of communication in DP1 drive this divide: asymmetry, where communication flows up and down a status chain with no real conversation between equals; egocentrism, where individual accountability means people's interests are best served by looking out for themselves rather than sharing information; and "them and us" as the natural end state of both. When people are organised into separate functions with different managers, different goals, and different metrics, the in-group/out-group dynamic is not a cultural failure; it is the structural output. In DP2, teams are organised around whole tasks with shared goals, and all relations are peer negotiations. The divide disappears not because people are nicer, but because neither asymmetry nor egocentrism has anything to feed on.


#OpenSystemsTheory #SocioTechnical #OrgDesign #GroupDynamics

How is metacognitive laziness with AI mediated by groups?

I’m quite taken with the concept of ‘metacognitive laziness‘ (even if I don’t like the term). It refers to a disposition to avoid difficulty, drawing on short-term assistance of AI in superficial ways rather than engaging in the metacognitive work prompted by challenges in learning. As I summarised it a few days ago:

The experience of difficulty activates metacognition. If the students cognitively outsource in increasingly habitual ways, it doesn’t just mean they lose the learning involved in what they are outsourcing. It means they lose their capacity to tolerate difficulty, as well to respond metacognitively to that difficulty. This points to the assumption which many educators have that there is something

How is this process mediated by group work? My sense is that it can be amplified by group dynamics or mitigated by them. The group can make it easier to sit with uncertainty by establishing that other people feel a similar anxiety in the face of uncertainty. But the group can also make it harder to sit with uncertainty if it’s defined by competitive dynamics or pluralistic ignorance.

Existing conceptualisations of how students engage with models are deeply individualised. The problem is not taking the individual as a unit of action, it’s remaining there in a way that stops us teasing out how these individual user-model dynamics are shaped by the social context in which students encounter task, enact them and talk about what they’ve done.

#UtopianMicroFiction.

A: Hey kid, how was your first day of school? What subjects will you have?

B: Oh, it was so cool. Our main subjects will be #SocialPedagogy, #GroupDynamics, #PsychoEducation, #TraumaPedagogy and #NonViolentCommunication besides #Inclusion and #Diversity, which we started with today.
Other than that we'll have #ClimateJustice, #BlackHistory, #QueerFeminism, #anarchism, #RiotTraining, #solidarity, #degrowth, #PermaCulture, #ReduceRefuseRepair and a few others.
Didn't you always tell me school didn't teach you anything for real life? Well it's not like that anymore.

#utopia #MicroFiction #FediLZ

That feeling of having forgotten to unmute yourself in a videochat - I have that in written chats and face-to-face meetings too sometimes.

#SocialAnxiety #GroupDynamics

Hey Fediverse,
Does anyone know of a good, democratic method for building sub-groups of a group of people, that is not hurtful to outsiders, that is inclusive to people with social anxiety and doesn't discriminate or hurt anyone else either?

PS: Sorry for wasting everybody's time with such an unspecific and badly worded question.
If particularly looking for a way to form sub groups where personal preferences for mates matter, like sleeping arrangements, long term study groups, peer groups for activis etc.

#FediHelp #AskFedi #FollowerPower #GroupDynamics #GroupBuilding #inclusion #SocialAnxiety

A bit of #psychology reflection, on #empathy vs. #violence and #hate

Mindfulness vs. #cult #TrumpVirus
#Media bubbles & #SocialInfluence

Reflections on teachings from greats like Carl Rogers and Aaron T. Beck

https://diasporasocial.net/posts/5127618

#truth #socialpsychology #groupdynamics #belief #cognitiion

As the #GQP #disinformation media is busy martyring voices of racism, avoiding #Epstein and the collapse of #democracy, #Constitution, #Jusiciary etc...

#ContextAndPerspective

@MennoOng We moeten er meer naar luisteren… Er wordt en werd meer dan genoeg gepraat, maar niemand luistert en hoort wat er werkelijk gezegd wordt. Zoals de wereld zich nu ontwikkelt verdwijnen de stemmen helemaal in een zee van persoonlijke belevingen en onmacht. Alle informatie is er… We geven ons echter over aan de waan van de dag in een systemisch racistisch proces. 🧠🔨 #Hersenmoes #GroupDynamics

I wish I could explain to you all how proud (and simultaneously insecure) I am of what I have been working on, and how utterly insane and complex my project has been becoming. 🫠 Suffice to say I have built an automatic device coordination and communication system (including spinning up new data streams :uplink: )...all of that was just to build this simple game for my experiment, but to make it flexible to run with teams of 2, 3, 5, N, players and be able to handle data collection, EEG, and other stuff. :corteximplant_b: :mk2:

It, hopefully, will be a super useful tool for anyone wanting to do research into groups, social dynamics and related investigation...or you could just use it to build a game haha. :commodore:

https://github.com/NexusDynamic/

#lsl #labstreaminglayer #coordination #cnc #cc #dart #cpp #c #ffi #flutter #flame #forge2d #oss #foss #research #cognition #cognitivescience #cogsci #eeg #neuroscience #psychology #socialdynamics #groupdynamics #socialgroupdynamics #research #researchparadigm #paradigm #software #programming #programmer #dev #gamedev #softwaredevelopment #coding

So, I've been revisiting some of my past experiences with my old coven. I reunited with several coven-mates last year, and discovered that my old tradition -- #Alexandrian -- had split into two factions -- one that accepted transwomen, and one that didn't. If I ever decide to get back into it again, guess which faction I'd choose. And yeah -- unfortunately power dynamics, hierarchy and potential emotional and psychological abuse happens a lot in "religious" groups -- even #Pagan ones.

I've managed to summarize the "Pros" and "Cons" of my joining a coven all those years ago...

Reasons I joined the coven:

1. Earth-centered religion with a political focus (Thomas Morton Alliance)
2. I learned Welsh from my high priestess.
3. My high priestess was a very intelligent, feminist, who espoused matriarchy, egalitarianism, and who was a Marxist anti-capitalist and a role model for me.
4. One of my coven-mates became my gay best friend (we're still BFFs).
5. Another coven-mate taught me traditional plant medicine and herbalism.

Reasons I left the coven:

1. I was pigeon-holed into "feminine" roles in rituals (even though I identified as NB and more masculine than feminine).
2. Over-bearing "acting" high priest (AIM member who was a bit of a bully).
3. Over-bearing coven-mate (AIM member) was distrustful of gay best friend (and was homophobic).
4. "Feminist" high priestess allowed herself to become emotionally and financially dependent on over-bearing coven-mate, refused to accept help from coven-mates (like having a room-mate, or other mutual aid), and when over-bearing coven-mate ran off with a younger, female coven-mate, high priestess fell apart -- eventually taking her own life (despite the support of the coven -- which soon fell apart as well).

And some folks wonder why I'm a solitary (though most of my witchy / Pagan friends understand why).
#PaganPolitics #GroupDynamics #Hierarchy #WhatSomeWitchesDid

Kids (2019) [9 min] by Michael Frei (@playables) | #Switzerland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeG_pKtp83w

#2D #2DAnimation #AnimatedShort #AnimatedShortOfTheDay #Animation #Kids #BlackAndWhite #Playables #Experimental #GroupDynamics

Zuckerberg claimed moderation changes on Meta platforms promote “free expression”. But some experts worry he’s bowing to right-wing political pressure, and will effectively allow a deluge of hate speech and lies to spread on Meta platforms.

Research on the group dynamics of social media suggests those experts have a point. 👉 https://theconversation.com/the-dynamics-that-polarise-us-on-social-media-are-about-to-get-worse-247027?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=The+Conversation+UK&utm_campaign=publer

#hatespeech #facebook #groupdynamics

FLOCK OF von bit.studio: Die Installation verwandelt eine Herde (engl. „flock“) schwebender Heliumballons in einen Fischschwarm, der durch Sensoren und #KI gesteuert werden. Ein elektronisches Gehirn in jedem Ballon kommuniziert mit einem zentralen Server, der die Bewegung in Echtzeit steuert. Das Projekt untersucht Themen wie Vernetzung und Gruppendynamik und fordert unsere Wahrnehmung der Welt heraus.

#FLOCKOF #ArsElectronica #InteractiveArt #ArtAndTech #Innovation #DigitalArt #GroupDynamics

Social Identity Theory provides insights into political polarization by explaining how individuals categorize themselves into groups, fostering in-group loyalty and out-group hostility. This categorization leads to stronger identification with political parties and increased disdain for opposing views. As people seek to align with their group’s beliefs and norms, polarization intensifies.

#PoliticalScience #SocialIdentity #Polarization #GroupDynamics #Psychology

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beyond-school-walls/202408/how-social-identity-theory-explains-political-polarization?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=HariTulsidas%2Fmagazine%2FMind+and+Matter

Everyone knows religious thinking is huge in American #conservative circles. I think #liberals feel like we're immune.

We absolutely are not. Lots of #liberal / #progressive groups clearly seem influenced by factors we usually associate with #religious #thinking, like group #tribalism, gaining status through denigration of the Other, #authority #worship, valuing #tradition, moral #ThoughtPolicing, valuing #ritual, judging others by outward clues of #morality, the use of shibboleths and other linguistic cues of righteousness or group membership, and just straight-up #conformity and #obedience. There's a lot.

I'm not smart enough to write a serious piece about this, yet. Maybe someday. Or, more likely, someone who *is* smart about this stuff has already written it.

#religion #groupdynamics #peopleGonnaPeep #immunity #not

Did you know that difficulty in socialising in toddler year can follow you to the adult hood? We all need to connect, but if you don't know the recipe on how, then you get a harder ride. Here are some tips to better connect with people.
#connections #social #talk #groupdynamics #relations #buildingrelationships

https://apxdynamics.com/2024/02/28/exploring-the-importance-of-social-connection-from-early-childhood/

ASEC reveals the Group Dynamics record, three hypnotic techno tracks, with remixes from Inland and Kaiser. #music #ASEC #groupdynamics #inland #Kaiser #remix

https://evl.one/group-dynamics-by-asec