Social loafing: Allocating effort or taking it easy?

When asked to work both alone and in groups, people exert less effort in groups, a phenomenon we call “social loafing.” Either of two possible strategies could explain this outcome: an allocational strategy where people work as hard as they can overall but conserve their strength for individual trials where work is personally beneficial and a minimizing strategy where the primary motive is to “get by” with the least effort possible. However, an allocational strategy would lead participants who always work in groups to put out as much effort as participants who always work alone, since there is no need to husband strength. Two studies using a sound production task found social loafing even under these conditions, suggesting that allocational strategies are not prevalent. Social loafing seems to occur when people perform together in groups, regardless of whether or not they must also perform alone.