Group Dynamics Chapter 1

relationship 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).

Interdependence

A dynamic whole based on interdependence rather than similarity; Groups create various types of dependencies among members (e.g., unilateral, reciprocal)

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.

Psychological significance

A psychological 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

Collective

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, as are more widely dispersed groups (e.g. listeners who respond similarly to a public service announcement)

Social group

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 network

A set of interpersonally interconnected individuals in a 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.

Structure

A social unit which consists of a number of individuals who stand in (more or less) definite status and role relationships to one another and which possess a set of values or norms of its own regulating the behavior of individual members, at least in matters of consequence to the group; Group interaction is patterned by group structure

Stereotype

A socially shared set of qualities, characteristics, and behavioral expectations ascribed to a particular group or category of people.

Interrelations

An aggregation of two or more people who are to some degree in dynamic interrelation with one another

Social identity

An individual's sense of self derived from relationships and memberships in groups; also, those aspects of the self that are assumed to common to most or to all of the members of the same group or social category

Systems

And intact social system, complete with boundaries, interdependence for some shared purpose, and differentiated member roles

What are some examples of Collectives?

Audiences, cues, mobs, crowds, social movements, etc.

What are some examples of Social Groups?

Coworkers, teams, cruise, study groups, task forces, etc.

Planned Groups

Deliberately formed by the members themselves or by an external authority usually for some specific purpose or purposes

The Value of Groups

Despite all the problems caused by groups (competition, conflict, poor decisions), humans could not survive without groups

Devoski believed that we start as ourselves and get influenced by ______________

Everyone and everything around us

What some examples of a Primary group?

Families, close friends, cliques of peers, small combat squads (fire teams), etc.

Tuckman's (1965) theory of group development assumes most groups move through five stages:

Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning

McGrath Goal Model

Generating Choosing Negotiating Executing

unity

Group cohesion, or cohesiveness

goals

Groups seek a variety of goals

emergent groups

Groups that form spontaneously as individuals find themselves repeatedly interacting with the same subset of individuals over time and settings

Social Brain Hypothesis (Dunbar 1998)

Humans' advanced cognitive capacity evolved to meet the informational demands of living in large groups

Relations

Individuals who stand in certain relations to each other, for example, as sharing a common purpose or having a common intentionality, or acting together, or at least having a common interest

_________ used the word dynamic to describe the interpersonal processes that occur within and between in groups

Kurt Lewin

What are some examples of Categories?

Men, Asian Americans, New Yorkers, doctors, Britons, etc.

Interdependence

Mutual dependence, as when one's outcomes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and experiences are influenced, to some degree, by other people.

Social unit

Persons who recognize that they constitute a meaningful social unit, interact on that basis, and are committed to that social unity

origin

Planned groups (concocted and founded) are deliberately formed, but emergent groups (circumstantial and self-organizing) come into existence over time

Hofstede's theory of national cultures identifies the key dimensions of variation that influence groups and their members

Power Distance Index (PDI) Individualism (IDV) Masculinity (MAS) Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)

Essentialism

The belief that all things, including individuals and groups, have a basic nature that makes them what they are and distinguishes them from other things; a thing's essence is usually inferred rather than directly observed and is generally assumed to be relatively unchanging.

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

Composition

The individuals who constitute (belong in) a group

group cohesion

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.

Communication

Three or more people who (a) think of themselves as a group, (b) are interdependent (e.g. with regard to shared goals or behaviors that affect one another), and (c) communicate (interact) with one another (via face to face or technological means)

Shared tasks and goals

Three or more people who work together interdependently on an agreed-upon activity or goal

Size

Two (dyads) or more people (crowd/collectives)

Group

Two or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships. (Although no one definition is accepted, size is debatable, it truly becomes a group when you're connected)

Categorization

Two or more individuals who perceive themselves to be members of the same social category

Shared identity

Two or more people possessing a common social identification and whose existence as a group is recognized by a third-party

Influence

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

Understanding groups facilitates:

Understanding people Understanding the social world Applications to practical problems Understanding yourself

norm

a consensual and often implicit standard that describes what behaviors should and should not be performed in a given context

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.

Bales' (1950) Interaction Process Analysis (IPA)

a system distinguishes between task interaction and relationship interaction

education

classroom groups; team teaching, class composition and educational outcomes

boundaries

define who is a member and who is not

engineering

design of human systems, including problem-solving teams; group approaches to software design

Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)

does the culture minimize uncertainty and ambiguity

comes from the Greek word dynamikós, which means to be strong, powerful, and energetic

dynamic

Power Distance Index (PDI)

egalitarian hierarchical

self-organizing groups

emerge when interacting individuals gradually align their activities in a cooperative system of interdependence. Parties, gatherings of surfers waiting for waves just offshore, drivers leaving a crowded parking lot through a single exit, and a half dozen adolescents who hang out together are all organized groups, but their organization is generated by implicit adjustments of each member to each other member.

circumstantial groups

emergent, unplanned groups that arise when external, situational forces set the stage for people to join together, often temporarily, in a unified group. A group of travelers stranded together when their bus breaks, a mob breaking shop windows and setting parked cars on fire, and patrons at a movie theatre would be an example of this group.

Human behavior is usually __________ ___________

group behavior

Individualism (IDV)

group-centered or individualistic

To understand the social world—its politics, institutions, cultures, and conflicts—one must understand its _________

groups

generating

groups concoct the strategies they will use to accomplish their goal (type 1: planning tasks) or create altogether new ideas and approaches to their problems (type 2: creativity tasks)

Executing

groups do things, including taking part in competitions (type 7: contests/battles/competitive tasks) or creating some product or carrying out collective actions (type 8: performances/psychomotor tasks)

Anthropology

groups in cross-cultural contexts; meetings and gatherings; evolutionary perspectives

choosing

groups make decisions about issues that have correct solutions (type 3: intellective tasks) or questions that can be answered in many ways (type 4: decision-making tasks)

negotiating

groups resolve differences of opinion among members regarding their goals or decisions (type 5: cognitive conflict tasks) or settle competitive disputes among members (type 6: mixed-motive tasks)

The number of possible relations in a group __________ as groups increase in size

increases

categories can:

influence members social identities bias perceptions of category members (e.g. stereotyping)

Communication

information transmission in groups; discussion; decision making; problems in communication; networks

group dynamics

interpersonal processes that occur within and and between groups; also, the scientific study of those processes

Masculinity (MAS)

is masculinity (and competition, assertiveness, machismo) a cultural tradition

political science

leadership; intergroup and international relations; political influence; power

Adjourning

members prepare for disbandment

open groups are ________ permeable than closed groups

more

social categories are

often as psychologically meaningful to members as more socially based groups

computer science

online groups and networks, computer-based groups support systems, computer programing in groups

criminal justice

organization of law enforcement agencies; gangs and criminal groups; jury deliberations

Tippin and the bicycle races

people increase your performance or make you do more

psychology

personality and group behavior; problem-solving; perceptions of other people; motivation; conflict

Types of Groups

planned concocted founded emergent circumstantial self-organizing

concocted groups

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 are all examples of this group, since those who created them are not actually members of the group.

founded groups

planned by one or more individuals who remain within the group. A small Internet-start up company, a study group, an expeditionary team, or grassroots community action group would all be founded groups.

architecture and design

planning spaces to maximize group-environment fit; design of spaces for groups (offices, classrooms, theatres)

sociology

self and society; the influence of norms on behavior; role relations; deviance

social work

team approaches to treatment; community groups; family counseling; groups and adjustment

Sports and Recreation

team performance; effects of victory and failure; cohesion and performance

Entitativity

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; The perception of entitativity (groupness) is influenced by: common fate similarity proximity

task interaction

the conjointly adjusted actions of group members that pertain to the group's projects, tasks, and goals

Forming

the first stage of team development, in which team members meet each other, form initial impressions, and begin to establish team norms

Performing

the fourth of team development, in which performance improves because the team has matured into an effective, fully functioning team

People must be studied in context, and that context is _____ ______

the group: we are embedded in our families, friendship cliques, teams, organizations, and so on

group structure

the organization of a group, including the members, their interrelations, and their interactions.

Science and Technology

the science of team science; creativity and collaborative discovery

Storming

the second stage of development, characterized by conflict and disagreement, in which team members disagree over what the team should do and how it should do it

Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

the tendency to overestimate the causal influence of dispositional factors while underemphasizing the causal influence of situational factors

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 , as they are real in their consequences"

Norming

the third stage of team development, in which team members begin to settle into their roles, group cohesion grows, and positive team norms develop

mental health

therapeutic change throughout groups; sensitivity training; training groups; self-help groups; group psychotherapy

(n[n-1])/2

where n indicates the number of people. For example, if 5 people work on a project, n=5, communication channels = 5(4)/2 = 10

business and industry

work motivation; productivity in organizational settings; team building; goal setting; management and leadership

Applications to Practical Problems

•Understanding groups is the means to solve most practical problems. •The study of groups is relevant many professional and scientific fields of study.