The concept of social loafing applies in other areas, for example among groups of office workers
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The term social loafing was popularised by Bibb Latané and his colleagues. They defined it in 1979 as ‘a decrease in individual effort due to the social presence of other persons’. As the article you have just read points out, it was originally noted way back in 1913 by a French agricultural engineer called Maximilien Ringelmann, and is consequently sometimes called the Ringelmann effect.
1 Think of the group work you do in class at school or college.
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