TOEFL Speaking Task 3

Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to exert less effort when working in a group than when working alone. This phenomenon occurs because individual contributions become less identifiable, and people may feel less personally accountable for the group’s outcome. Researchers have found that social loafing can reduce overall group productivity, especially in tasks where collective performance is emphasized rather than individual output. The effect is more pronounced in larger groups, where the link between personal effort and final result becomes weaker. Understanding social loafing is important for designing effective teamwork strategies.

Professor: Let me give you a classic example from a study. Researchers asked participants to clap and shout as loudly as possible. First, they did this alone, and their sound intensity was measured. Then, they were asked to do the same in groups of two, four, and six. The results showed that when people believed they were in a group, they made less noise than when they were alone. Interestingly, even though the total noise increased with more people, the average noise per person decreased. For instance, when a person shouted alone, they reached about 87 decibels, but in a group of six, each person’s contribution dropped to about 66 decibels. Why? Because individuals felt their efforts were hidden in the crowd—no one could tell how much they personally contributed. So they relaxed and put in less effort.