HMS 141: Group Dynamics Chapter 1 Introduction to Groups
No one knows for sure how many groups exist at this moment, but given the number of people on the planet and their groupish proclivities, a conservative estimate would be
30 million
Because of the limits of most people's capacity to keep track of so many social relationships, once the group surpasses about 150 individuals, members usually cannot connect with each and every member of the group (Dunbar, 2008). In consequence, in larger groups, members are connected to one another indirectly rather than directly
Figure 1.2 continued
Which of the following statements from a research report reflects a quantitative study?
Members were unable to reach agreement 43% of the time.
Categories are a type of group such as
Men, Asians, Americans, New Yorkers, doctors, Britons, etc
The sociologist W. I. Thomas stated that "if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences" (Thomas & Thomas, 1928, p. 572); this statement is now known as the
Thomas Theorem
The theoretical premise, put forward by W. I. Thomas, which maintains that people's conception of a social situation, even if incorrect, will determine their reactions in the situation; "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"
Thomas Theorem
The investigation into the nature of groups begins with answering two fundamental questions:
What is a group, and what are group dynamics?
Interdependence of a group is
a dynamic whole based on interdependence rather than similarity
The face-vase-group ambiguous figure. Most people, when asked to describe this image, report two interpretations—either a vase, or two faces—but few mention the third interpretation of this ambiguous image:
a group with two members conversing
Some relationships, like the links between members of a family or clique of close friends, are tenacious, for they have developed over time and are based on
a long history of mutual influence and exchange
To become part of a social network, an individual need only establish
a relationship of some sort with a person who is already part of the network
If Helen and Rob are already linked, then Pemba can join their network by establishing
a relationship with Helen or Rob
Social categories tend to create divisions between people, and those divisions can result in
a sense of we and us versus they and them
Citizens from Ireland are Irish, Americans whose ancestors were from Africa are African Americans, and men who are sexually attracted to other men are gay. What are these examples of?
a social category
The Structure of a group is
a social unit that consists of several individuals who stand in (more or less) definite status and role relationships to one another and which possesses a set of values or norms of its own, regulating the behavior of individual members, at least in the matter of consequence to the group
Which of the following countries is considered more communal? a. Thailand b. Australia c. Great Britain d. United States
a. Thailand
Entitativity, is the "groupiness" of a group, perceived rather than
actual group unity or cohesion
Groups are
all shapes and sizes and their purposes are many and varied, but the influence is universal
Interrelations of a group are
an aggregation of two or more people who are to some degree in dynamic interrelation with one another
Definitions of the word group are as varied as groups themselves, but a commonality shared by many of these definitions is
an emphasis on social relations that link members to one another
The Systems of a group are
an intact social system, complete with boundaries, interdependence for some shared purpose, and differentiated member roles
The Psychological Significance of a group is
any number of people who interact with each other, are psychologically aware of each other, and perceive themselves to be in a group
Groups are so numerous that the differences among them are
as noteworthy as their similarities
Collectives are a type of group such as
audiences, queues, mobs, crowds, social movement, etc
Which of the following statements exemplifies the fundamental attribution error? a. Estella demanded that a doctor see her baby immediately because he has high fever. b. Lance yelled at the grocery cashier today because he is an angry, impatient person. c. Betty honked her car horn in traffic because she is late for an important meeting. d. Caleb didn't tip his waitress because she messed up his order and never apologized.
b. Lance yelled at the grocery cashier today because he is an angry, impatient person.
Which of the following terms reflects Hofstede's study of inequality within cultures? a. Masculinity b. Power distance c. Uncertainty avoidance d. Social capital
b. Power distance
A group exists when the members share the essential characteristic of ________.
bonds
grouping of people assumed to be similar in some ways but different in other ways
categories
___________ ___________ are emergent, unplanned groups that arise when external, situational forces set the stage for people to join together, often temporarily, in a unified group
circumstantial groups
____________ and ____________, reviews theory and research examining one of the most central concepts in the field of group dynamics, cohesion, the many factors that increase the unity of a group, and the way those factors wax and wane as the group changes over time
cohesion, development
Other qualities, such as the group's __________ or the __________ of the group's ___________ , must be uncovered, for they are often overlooked, even by the group members themselves.
cohesiveness, permeability, boundaries
A relatively large aggregation or group of individuals who display similarities in actions and outlook. A street crowd, a line of people (a queue), and a panicked group escaping a fire are examples of collectives, as are more widely dispersed groups (e.g., listeners who respond similarly to a public service announcement).
collective
Any gathering of individuals can be considered a ___________, but most theorists reserve the term for more extensive, less intricately interconnected associations among people
collective
In many cases, in this group, they are created by happenstance, convenience, or a short-lived experience. So the relations joining the members are so transitory that they dissolve as soon as they separate.
collectives
______________, concludes this analysis by examining processes that influence people when they are part of larger, more diffuse, but nonetheless very influential groups, such as mobs, crowds, and social movements.
collectives
relatively large aggregation of individuals who display similarities in actions and outlook
collectives
As social psychologist Henri Tajfel (1974) explained, members of the same social category often share a
common identity with one another
In some groups, members are friends, but in others, the members are linked by
common interests or experiences
Distinctive networks of ___________ and ___________ often develop in groups, as some members of the group enjoy strong, positive interpersonal ties with others in the group but others' capacity to influence others atrophies.
communication, influence
Qualities of the individuals who are members of the group are known as
composition
The individuals who constitute a group.
composition
To understand a group, we must know something about the group's
composition
___________ ___________ are planned by individuals or authorities outside of the group. A team of laborers digging a trench, a flight crew of an airplane, and a military squad would all be concocted groups, since those who created them are not actually members of the group
concocted groups
_________, explains, the most common sources are competition, disagreements over the distribution of resources, power struggles, uncertainty and disagreement over a decision, and personal antipathies.
conflict
Larger groups can also have unique qualities, for the members are rarely
connected directly to all other members, subgroups are very likely to form, and one or more leaders may be needed to organize and guide the group
A group's size also determines how many
connections, edges—are needed to join members to each other and to the group
Groups in ___________, considers how the physical environment affects a group's dynamics.
context
Sayed wrote a research paper on how American students form and sustain social groups in their first year of college. Next year, he will conduct similar research with students in Asian countries. What aspect of group dynamics is Sayed likely exploring through his research?
contextual processes
No group would exist for very long if the members refuse to
coordinate their actions with the actions of others in group
Social groups are
coworkers, teams, crews, study groups, task forces, etc
A list of examples of collectives would include
crowds watching a building burn, audiences seated in a movie theater, lines (queues) of people waiting to purchase tickets, gathering of college students protesting a government policy, and panicked mobs fleeing from danger
The processes that guide groups' choices and decisions are examined in ________ _________.
decision making
A group whose members differ from each other in terms of race, sex, economic background, and country of origin will
differ from a group with far less diversity
A group with many members who have only just joined will
differ from one with mostly long-term, veteran members
A group with a member who is naturally boisterous, mean-spirited, hard-working, chill, or closed-minded will be
different from the group with a member who is domineering, self-sacrificing, lazy, anxious, or creative
A group's size influences many of its other features, for a small group will likely have
different structures, processes, and patterns of interaction than a larger one
All groups require a modicum of cohesiveness or else the group would
disintegrate and cease to exist as a group
Only one relationship is needed to create a
dyad
The word ___________ comes from the Greek dynamikós, which means to be strong, powerful, and energetic
dynamic
____________ implies the influence of forces that combine, sometimes smoothly but sometimes in opposition, to create continual motion and change
dynamic
___________ ___________, such as audiences at events, bystanders at a crime scene, crowds, customers at a club, gangs, families, friendship networks in work settings, mobs, people waiting to board an airplane, and all manner of queues and lines, arise over time and through repeated association of the eventual members
emergent groups
The apparent cohesiveness or unity of an assemblage of individuals; the quality of being a single entity rather than a set of independent, unrelated individuals (coined in Campbell, 1958a).
entitativity
_____________ describes the extent to which a group seems to be a single, unified entity—a real group
entitativity
A sense of ____________ may also permeate perceivers' beliefs about groups that are high in entitativity
essentialism
When people manage to place themselves at the hub of the group's information
exchange patterns, their influence over others also increases
Social groups, such as the Adventure Expedition, military squads, governing boards, construction workers, teams, crews, fraternities, sororities, dance troupes, orchestras, bands, ensembles, classes, clubs, secretarial pools, congregations, study groups, guilds, task forces, committees, and meetings, are all
extremely common
Primary groups are
families, close friends, small combat squads (fireteams), etc
Members of groups, to get along with one another, must often go along, and they must
find their place in the group, comply with the group's standards, accept guidance from the group's leaders, and learn how to best influence one another
In open groups, membership is
fluid; members may voluntarily come and go as they please with no consequences (and they often do), or the group may frequently vote members out of the group or invite new ones to join
_____________, explores the personal and situational forces that prompt people to join groups or remain apart from them, as well as the part interpersonal attraction plays in creating stable relationships among group member
formation
According to Tuckman, the lifecycle of a group begins with ________ and ends with ________.
forming; adjourning
__________ __________ are planned by one or more individuals who remain within the group. A small Internet start-up company, a study group, a expeditionary team, or grassroots community action group would all be founded groups
founded groups
The tendency to overestimate the causal influence of dispositional factors while underemphasizing the causal influence of situational factors.
fundamental attribution error (FAE)
The well-documented ________ ________ ________ occurs because perceivers are more likely to attribute a person's actions to personal, individual qualities rather than external, situational forces—including groups (Ross, 1977).
fundamental attribution error (FAE)
These dimensions of variation leave their mark on the group dynamics that occur within cultures.
fundamental attribution error (fae), power distance index (pdi), individualism (idv), masculinity (mas), uncertainty avoidance index (uai)
Groups are primary in several senses, but chiefly in that they are
fundamental in forming the social nature and ideals of the individual
No one definition can capture the many nuances of the word
group
Two or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships.
group
two or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships
group
The solidarity or unity of a group resulting from the development of strong and mutual interpersonal bonds among members and group-level forces that unify the group, such as shared commitment to group goals and esprit de corps.
group cohesion
____________ ____________ is the integrity, solidarity, social integration, unity, and groupiness of a group
group cohesion
__________ ___________, are the influential interpersonal processes that occur in and between groups over time. These processes not only determine how members relate to and engage with one another, but they also determine the group's inherent nature and trajectory: the actions the group takes, how it responds to its environment, and what it achieves
group dynamics
In all but the most ephemeral groups, patterns and regularities emerge that determine the kinds of actions that are permitted or condemned: who talks to whom, who likes whom and who dislikes whom, who can be counted on to perform particular tasks, and whom others look to for guidance and help. These regularities combine to generate
group structure
The organization of a group, including the members, their interrelations, and their interactions.
group structure
_________ __________ is the complex of roles, norms, and intermember relations that organizes the group
group structure
__________ and __________ reviews the use of groups to promote adjustment, human development, and therapeutic change, including helping, supportive, and change-promoting groups.
growth, change
Based on Hofstede's dimensions of cultural outlooks, a country with which type of ranking would likely have the lowest number of groups?
high idv
If categories set in motion personal or interpersonal processes (e.g., if someone celebrates St. Patrick's Day because of his Irish heritage, if people respond to a woman differently when they see she is an African American, or if a gay man identifies with other LGBTQ persons—then a category may be transformed into a
highly influential group
Debra, who identifies as a lesbian, believes it is important for her to attend the GLBT Pride Parade in her city each year in order to maintain her sense of social ________.
identity
In closed groups, membership is
in contrast, the membership roster changes more slowly, if at all. But, regardless of the reasons for membership fluctuations, open groups are especially unlikely to reach a state of equilibrium since members recognize that they may lose or relinquish their place within the group at any time
_______________ and _______________ suggests that groups satisfy a very basic human need—the need to belong—and the consequences of shifting from an individualistic, self-focused orientation to a group-level perspective
inclusion, identity
_____________ contrasts group-centered and more individualistic cultures. In more individualistic cultures, ties between people are looser, for each person focuses on his or her own needs (or those of their immediate family). In collective cultures, people are integrated into cohesive groups that support them in exchange for their loyalty.
individualism (idv)
Relations of a group are
individuals who stand in certain relations to each other, for example, as sharing a common purpose or having joint intentionality, or acting together, or at least having a common interest
_____________, looks at the way group members sometimes change their opinions, judgments, or actions so that they match the opinions, judgments, or actions of the rest of the group (conformity).
influence
Mutual dependence, as when one's outcomes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and experiences are influenced, to some degree, by other people.
interdependence
________________ means that members depend on one another; their outcomes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and experiences are partially determined by others in the group
interdependence
Groups are the setting for an infinite variety of
interpersonal action
In many cases, individuals become part of primary groups
involuntarily
A two-person group is so small that
it ceases to exist when one member leaves, and it can never be broken down into subgroups
On four separate occasions, Trent observed four groups of high school boys with similar demographic characteristics and coded their behaviors. When reviewing his data, he noted that the coding was similar for all four sessions. What can you say about the coding system Trent used?
it is reliable
In families, the relationships are based on
kinship
The number of ties needed to connect all members grows as the group gets
larger
____________, examines the processes that determine who emerges as a group's leader and their effectiveness when in that position.
leadership
In social groups, boundaries are more permeable, so members can
leave old groups behind and join a new one, for they do not demand the level of commitment that primary groups do
The processes that unfold within groups
leaves an indelible imprint on their members and on society
Roles, norms, and other structural aspects of groups, although unseen and often unnoticed,
lie at the heart of their most dynamic processes
Every individual member of the group does NOT need to be
linked to every other person in the group
_____________ refers to the extent to which masculinity and its associated elements—competition, assertiveness, machismo—are manifested in the culture's practices, including role expectations associated with men and women.
masculinity (mas)
A group is a complex social system, a _____________ of powerful interpersonal forces that significantly shape members' actions, and examine the flow of information, influence, and interaction.
microcosm
Like financial or economic capital, social capital describes how rich you are, but in interpersonal terms rather than
monetary or commercial terms
In consequence, social networks tend to be
more fluid in terms of membership than groups with clearly identified boundaries, but they can also attract more diverse members to their ranks
Contemporary researchers approach the study of group dynamics at which level of analysis?
multilevel
The maximum number of ties within a group in which everyone is linked to everyone else is given by the equation
n(n - 1)/2, where n is the number of people in the group
A consensual and often implicit standard that describes what behaviors should and should not be performed in a given context.
norms
Group members' actions and interactions are also shaped by the group's _________ that describe what behaviors should and should not be performed in a given context
norms
________ describe the expectations of behaviors that should and should not be performed by members of a group.
norms
within a group are defined and renegotiated over time, and conflicts often emerge as members violate them
norms
A group's cohesiveness, is often based on commitment to the group's purposes, rather than
on social bonds between members
The relations that link the members of groups are NOT of
one type
Group members are not connected to one another at random, but in
organized and predictable patterns
Whyte's research of the Nortons is an example of what type of research?
overt observation
All group dynamics research is grounded in a particular "worldview" or ________ shared by the people who work in this field of study. The "worldview" shared by the researchers who work in a particular field of study is also called a __________.
paradigm
Other primary groups form when
people interact in significant, meaningful ways for a prolonged period of time
_____________, examines the processes that facilitate and inhibit people's performance in groups and concludes that groups outperform individuals when interpersonal processes boost members' motivation.
performance
Several employees of an advertising agency are developing a presentation they will deliver to a potential client in order to win a long-term contract. The process that best describes their work is which of the following?
performance processes
The tendency to join others in a group is
perhaps the single most important characteristic of humans
A person with considerable social capital is well connected to other people across a wide variety of contexts, and these connections provide the means for them to accomplish both
personal and collective outcomes
The Social Unit of a group is
persons who recognize that they constitute a meaningful social unit, interact on that basis, and are committed to that social unity
Arbitration boards, civil rights groups, commissions committees, expeditions, juries, legislative bodies, military units, musical groups, research teams, self-help groups, social agencies, sports teams, study groups, task forces, therapy groups, trade associations, veterans organizations, work groups, and the Adventure Expedition are all examples of
planned groups
Groups tend to fall naturally into two categories:
planned groups, which are deliberately formed by its members or an external authority for some purpose, and emergent groups which come into existence spontaneously when individuals join together in the same physical location or gradually over time as individuals find themselves repeatedly interacting with the same subset of individuals
People found groups ____________ but they also find them _____________
planned, emergent
____________, extends this topic by considering how group members make use of social power to influence others and how people respond to such influence. Individuals in the group who are more influential than others are often recognized as the group's leaders.
power
The ________ ________ _________ is an indicator of inequality within a given culture, across individuals, groups, and classes. When PDI is low, cultures strive to minimize inequalities in the distribution of power within society, but when PDI is high, both those with and without power accept hierarchy as the natural order of things.
power distance index (pdi)
In a _________ group, perhaps the simplest way of describing this wholeness is by saying that it is a "we."
primary
In a __________ group, even when the group is dispersed, members still feel they are "in" the group, and they consider the group to be a significant part of their lives.
primary
In earlier eras, people lived most of their lives in ____________ groups that were clustered together in relatively small tribes or communities.
primary
These such groups are considered to be _________ because they transform individuals into social beings.
primary
The result of intimate associations, psychologically, is a fusion of individualities in a common whole so that one's very self, for many purposes at least, is the everyday life and pursuit of this type of group
primary group
A small, long-term group characterized by frequent interaction, solidarity, and high levels of interdependence among members that substantially influences the attitudes, values, and social outcomes of its members.
primary groups
Sociologist Charles Horton Cooley (1909) labeled the small, intimate cluster of close associates, such as families, close friends, or cliques of peers, to be what type of group?
primary groups
These groups profoundly influence the behavior, feelings, and judgments of their members, for members spend much of their time interacting with one another, usually in face-to-face settings with many of the other members present.
primary groups
small, long-term group characterized by frequent interaction, solidarity, and interdependence among members
primary groups
What are the four basic types of groups?
primary groups, social groups, collectives, and categories
_____________ groups, such as professional sports teams, families, and close friends, received the highest entitativity ratings, followed by __________ groups (e.g., a jury, an airline crew, a team in the workplace), categories (e.g., women, doctors, classical music listeners), and collectives (e.g., people waiting for a bus, a queue in a bank)
primary, social
Group dynamics focus on which of the following?
processes
In Primary groups they
protect members from harm, care for them when they are ill, and provide them with shelter and sustenance
In some cases, such as groups based on ethnicity, race, or gender, the connection linking members may be more
psychological than interpersonal
A group is boundaried in a psychological sense; those who are included in the group are
recognized as members and those who are not part of the group are excluded outsiders
But groups are not simply performance engines, for much of what happens in a group is
relationship interaction (or socioemotional interaction)
socioemotional interaction) The conjointly adjusted actions of group members that relate to or influence the nature and strength of the emotional and interpersonal bonds within the group, including both sustaining (social support, consideration) and undermining actions (criticism, conflict).
relationship interactions
When people join a group, they initially spend much of their time trying to come to terms with the requirements of their
role
A socially shared set of behaviors, characteristics, and responsibilities expected of people who occupy a particular position or type of position within a group; by enacting roles, individuals establish regular patterns of exchange with one another that increase predictability and social coordination.
roles
___________ specify the general behaviors expected of people who occupy different positions within the group
roles
Members take on specific ________ within the group that generate regularities in their actions, and they accept and conform to the group's ________ that define what the group expects of them.
roles, norms
Every Saturday morning, Javier plays soccer with a group of guys at the local park. Which term best describes this collection of people?
secondary group
Every Saturday morning, Javier plays soccer with a group of guys at the local park. Which term best describes this collection of people?
secondary or social group
emerge when interacting individuals gradually align their activities in a cooperative system of interdependence
self-organizing groups
If a category had no social implications, then it only describes individuals who
share a feature in common
Entitativity, according to Campbell, is substantially influenced by
similarity, proximity, and common fate, as well as such perceptual cues as pragnanz (good form) and permeability
All groups, despite their uniqueness, share some common features, such as
size, and the tasks they are attempting
As societies became more complex, so did our groups. We began to associate with a broader range of people in less intimate, more public settings, and ____________ groups emerged to structure these interactions.
social
___________ ___________ ___________ assumes that group life is more psychologically demanding than a more isolated, independent one
social brain hypothesis
Putnam concluded that Americans' withdrawal from groups and associations signals an overall decline in
social capital
Rachel is considered an expert networker. She has hundreds of professional contacts and was recently listed as one of the city's top "Connectors" in the local business magazine's annual poll. Rachel would be rated highly in which of the following?
social capital
The degree to which individuals, groups, or larger aggregates of people are linked in social relationships that yield positive, productive benefits; analogous to economic capital (fiscal prosperity), but determined by extensiveness of social connectedness.
social capital
degree to which groups of people are linked in relationships that yield positive, productive benefits
social capital
A _____________ is a collection of individuals who are similar to one another in some way.
social category
A perceptual grouping of people who are assumed to be similar to one another in some ways but different in one or more ways, such as all women, the elderly, college students, or all the citizens of a specific country.
social category
Members in a _____________ know who is in their category, who is not, and what qualities are typical of insiders and outsiders.
social category
A relatively small number of individuals who interact with one another over an extended period of time, such as work groups, clubs, and congregations.
social groups
Various terms have been used to describe this category of groups, such as secondary groups, associations, task groups, and Gesellschaften.
social groups
relatively small number of individuals such as work groups, clubs, and congregations
social groups
An individual's sense of self derived from relationships and memberships in groups; also, those aspects of the self that are assumed to be common to most or all of the members of the same group or social category.
social identity
This perception of themselves as members of the same group or social category is "that part of an individual's self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the emotional significance attached to that membership."
social identity
individual's sense of self derived from relationships and memberships in groups
social identity
Collectives also include
social movements of individuals who, though dispersed over a wide area, display standard shifts in opinion or actions
A set of interpersonally interconnected individuals or groups.
social networks
___________ ____________ are in most respects very group-like. Their members are linked to each other by social relationships, which can vary from the inconsequential and ephemeral to the deeply meaningful and long-enduring
social networks
_____________ groups are larger and more formally organized than _____________ groups, and memberships tend to be shorter in duration and less emotionally involving.
social, primary
Define what a group is
some definers stress the importance of communication or mutual dependence; others suggest that a shared purpose or goal is what turns a mere aggregate of individuals into a bona fide group; even the minimal number of members needed for an actual group is debated, with some definitions requiring three members but others only two
No matter what the nature of the relations, a group exists when
some type of bond links the members to one another and to the group itself
Groups remain
somewhat of a mystery: unstudied at best, misunderstood at worst
set of qualities, characteristics, and behavioral expectations ascribed to a particular group of people
stereotype
A socially shared set of cognitive generalizations (e.g., beliefs and expectations).
stereotypes
Social categories can also influence the perception of those not part of the category. When perceivers decide a person they encounter is one of "those people," they will likely rely on any _______________ they have about the members of the social category to formulate an impression of the person.
stereotypes
The members of dyads (e.g., best friends, lovers) are sometimes linked by
strong emotional bonds that make their dynamics so intense that they belong in a category all their own
If you had to choose only one aspect of a group to study, you would probably learn the most by studying its
structure
______________, argues that in even the most rudimentary of groups structural processes organize the group's procedures, interaction patterns, and intermember relations.
structure
When several members form a ______________ within the ___________ group, they exert more influence on the rest of the group than they would individually
subgroup, larger
With groups come not only survival advantages, but also
substantial amounts of new information to continually process
_________ _____________ includes all group behavior that is focused principally on the group's work, projects, plans, and goals
task interaction
The conjointly adjusted actions of group members that pertain to the group's projects, tasks, and goals.
task interactions
In the workplace, relationships are based on
task-related interdependencies
__________, continues the analysis of group performance by examining the unique features of groups whose members are highly interdependent, task-focused, and productive.
teams
Cooley explained, that primary groups also create
the connection between the individual and society at large
How might an online group of employees from the same corporation differ from a Facebook group of people who are caregivers for an aging parent?
the employees would have stronger task interaction than the caregivers
A family is considered a group because
the members are connected, not just by blood but also by social and emotional relationships
Adventure Expedition was a group because
the members were linked by the tasks they completed collectively and by friendships, alliances, responsibilities, and inevitable antagonisms
A researcher is conducting an analysis of group dynamics among a team of election campaign volunteers. Which of the following factors would be considered part of a macro level of analysis?
the state of holding the election
Groups may be more than the sum of there, but each part defines
the whole
The members of collectives are joined by
their common interest or shared actions, but they often owe little allegiance to the group
In most groups, members must coordinate
their various skills, resources, and motivations so that the group can make a decision, generate a product, or achieve a victory
Communication of a group is three or more people who
think of themselves as a group; are interdependent concerning shared goals or behaviors that affect one another, and communicate and interact with one another via face-to-face or technological means
In group meetings, the opinions of members with higher status carry more weight than
those of the rank-and-file members
What is considered NOT to be a group?
three individuals working on a math problem in separate rooms, or individuals who share a superficial similarity, such as eye color, a favorite football team, or a birth date
The Shared Tasks and Goals of a group are
three or more people who work together interdependently on an agreed-upon activity or goal
What are groups?
two or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships
The Categorization of a group is
two or more individuals who perceive themselves to be members of the same category
The Size of a group is limited to
two or more people
Sociologist John James defined a group to be
two or more people in "face-to-face interaction as evidenced by the criteria of gesticulation, laughter, smiles, talk, play, or work."
The Shared Identity of a group is
two or more people possessing a common social identification and whose existence as a group is recognized by a third party
The Influence of groups are
two or more persons who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other person
___________ ____________ ____________ describes the extent to which the culture's practices minimize uncertainty and ambiguity, generally by developing extensive social and legal guidelines, emphasizing security, and adopting religious or philosophical beliefs that define how one should behave.
uncertainty avoidance index (uai)
The relationships that link members to one another define
who is in the group and who is not
