The Ringelmann effect is when the productivity of a group decreases as the group gets bigger. When groups work together on tasks and combine their efforts, adding more people usually helps improve performance. However, the improvement is not as much as we would expect if we just added up individual performances. This means that groups often don’t reach their full potential in terms of productivity because either the motivation decreases or it becomes harder to coordinate everyone’s efforts.
The Ringelmann effect was first observed by a French engineer named Max Ringelmann in the late 1800s (Kravitz & Martin, 1986). He wanted to see how the productivity of animals and people was affected by different work arrangements. For example, he tested if it was better to plow a field with two horses or four horses. Ringelmann asked male volunteers to pull on a rope as hard as they could in groups of different sizes. As the groups got bigger, their performance decreased compared to what they could have done individually.
There are two main reasons for the Ringelmann effect: coordination losses and motivation losses (Latané et al., 1979) Coordination losses happen when it’s difficult to effectively coordinate everyone’s efforts. For example, some people might pull hard on the rope while others are not pulling as much. Motivation losses occur because individual motivation tends to decrease as the group size increases. Studies have shown that people are generally less motivated when working on tasks as a group compared to when they work alone or with others who are also working individually. This phenomenon is called social loafing, where individuals contribute less when they feel less accountable.
Kravitz, D. A., & Martin, B. (1986). Ringelmann rediscovered: The original article. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 936 941.
Latane ́, B., Williams, K., & Harkins, S. (1979). Many hands make light the work: The causes and consequences of social loafing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 822 832.