Knowing that people have a tendency to engage in social loafing when they think there are other people around to take some of the burden, researchers think that knowing they are “alone” versus...

Knowing that people have a tendency to engage in social loafing when they think there are other people around to take some of the burden, researchers think that knowing they are “alone” versus “together” will impact the way a participant performs during a tug-of-war task. In the “alone” condition, participants are blindfolded and asked to pull as hard as they can on a rope against another participant on the other end. In the “together” condition, participants are once again blindfolded and told to pull as hard as they can. However, they are led to believe that there are three people on each end of the rope (they have two team additional team members to help them). The researchers find that those in the “alone” condition pull much harder (as measured by a weight sensor that measures pounds per square inch on a scale from 0 to 500 pounds) than those in the “together” condition.