PSY343 - Group Dynamics Exam 1 (Ch. 1-4)

Hawthorne Effect

A change in behavior that occurs when individuals know they are being observed or studied.

(Group) Need Satisfaction

A collection of organisms in which the existence of all (in their given relationship) is necessary to the satisfaction of certain individual needs in each (Cattell, 1951).

Sociometer Theory

A conceptual analysis of self-evaluation processes that theorizes self-esteem functions to psychologically monitor of one's degree of inclusion and exclusion in social groups.

Five Factor Model (FFM)

A conceptual model of the primary dimensions that structure individual differences in personality. The five dimensions are extraversion (introversion), agreeableness (disagreeableness), conscientiousness (careless), neuroticism (emotional stability), and openness to experience (closed to experience).

Norm

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

Social Movement

A deliberate, sustained, and organized group of individuals seeking change or resisting a change in a social system. Movements are sustained by individuals who may share a common outlook on issues or by members of identifiable social groups or categories, but not by business, political organizations, or governments.

(Group) Interdependence

A dynamic whole based on interdependence rather than similarity (Lewin, 1948).

Social Anxiety

A feeling of apprehension and embarrassment experienced when anticipating or actually interacting with other people.

Reference Group

A group or collective that individuals use as a standard or frame of reference when selecting and appraising their abilities, attitudes, or beliefs; includes groups that individuals identify with and admire and categories of noninteracting individuals.

Group Mind (Collective Conscious)

A hypothetical unifying mental force linking group members together; the fusion of individual consciousness or mind into a transcendent consciousness.

Observation

A measurement method that involves watching and recording activities of individuals and groups.

Need for Power

A motivating state of tension that can be relieved by gaining control over other people and one's environment.

Need for Intimacy

A motivating state of tension that can be relieved by seeking out warm, positive relationships with others.

Need for Affiliation

A motivating state of tension that can be revealed by joining with other people, which frequently includes concerns about winning the approval of other people.

Bona Fide Group

A naturally occurring group, such as an audience, board of directors, club, or team; compare to an ad hoc group created for research purposes.

Social Category

A perceptual grouping of people who are assumed to be similar to one another in some ways but different in some ways from individuals who are not members of that grouping.

Collective Self-Esteem

A person's overall assessment of that portion of their self-concept that is based on their relationships with others and membership in social groups.

Self (Self-Concept)

A person's perception of his or her enduring qualities and characteristics.

Fight-or-Flight Response

A physiological and psychological response to stressful events characterized by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (increased heart rate, pupil dilation) that readies the individual to counter the threat (fight) or to escape the threat (flight).

Tend-and-Befriend Response

A physiological, psychological, and interpersonal response to stressful events characterized by increased nurturing, protective and supportive behaviors (tending), and initiating and strengthening relationships with other people (befriending).

(Group) Psychological Significance

A psychological group is any number of people who interact with one another, are psychologically aware of each other, and perceive themselves to be in a group (Pennington, 2002).

Communal Relationship

A reciprocal interdependency that emphasizes meeting the needs and interests of others rather than maximizing one's own personal outcomes.

Exchange Relationship

A reciprocal interdependency that emphasizes the trading of gratifying experiences and rewards among members.

Collective

A relatively large aggregation or group of individuals who display similarities in actions and outlook. A street crowd, a line of people, a panicked group escaping a fire are examples of collectives, as are more widely dispersed groups (e.g., listeners who respond similarly to a PSA)

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.

Correlational Study

A research design in which the investigator measures (but does not manipulate) at least two target variables and then uses statistical procedures to examine the strength and direction of the relationship between those two variables (using the correlation coefficient, r).

Experimental Study

A research design in which the investigator, a. Manipulates at least one variable by randomly assigning participants to two or more different conditions; b. Measures and least one other variable; and c. Controls the influence of other variable on the outcome.

Quantitative Study

A research procedure that collects and analyzes numeric data, such as frequencies, proportions, or amounts.

Qualitative Study

A research procedure that collects any nonnumeric, unquantified types of data, such as verbal descriptions, text, images, or objects.

Structured Observational Method

A research procedure that creates a systematic record of group interaction and activities by classifying (coding) each overt expression or action into a defined category.

Case Study

A research technique that draws on multiple sources of information to examine, in depth, the activities and dynamics of a group or groups.

Social Support

A sense of inclusion, emotional support, advice, guidance, tangible assistance, and spiritual perspective given to others when they experience stress, daily hassles, and more significant life crises.

Social Network

A set of interpersonally interconnected individuals or groups.

Groupthink

A set of negative group-level processes, including illusions and vulnerability, self-censorship, and pressures to conform, that occur when highly cohesive groups seek concurrence rather than objective analysis when making a decision.

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.

Equality Norm

A social standard that encourages distributing rewards and resources equally among all members.

Equity Norm

A social standard that encourages distributing rewards and resources to members in proportion to their inputs.

Norm of Reciprocity

A social standard that enjoins individuals to pay back in kind what they receive from others.

(Group) 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 possesses a set of values or norms of its own regulating the behavior of individual members, at least in matters of consequence to the group (Sherif & Sherif, 1956).

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.

Stereotype

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

Emotion

A subjective state or positive or negative affect often accompanied by a degree of arousal or activation.

Complementarity Principle

A tendency for opposites to attract when the ways in which people are dissimilar are congruent (complementary) in some way.

Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) Model

A theoretical analysis of coaxial comparison processes that assumes individuals maintain and enhance their self-esteem by associating with high-achieving individuals who excel in areas that are not relevant to the individual's own sense of self-esteem and avoiding association with high-achieving individuals who excel in areas that are important to the individual's sense of self-esteem.

Collectivism

A tradition, ideology, or personal orientation that emphasizes the primacy of the group or community rather than each individual person.

Individualism

A tradition, ideology, or personal outlook that emphasizes the primacy of the individual and his or her rights, independence, and relationships with other individuals.

(Group) Unity

A unit consisting of a plural number of separate organisms (agents) who have a collective perception of their unity and who have the ability to act and/or are acting in a unitary manner toward their environment (Smith, 1945).

Self-Stereotyping

Accepting socially shared generalizations about prototypical characteristics attributed to members of one's group as accurate descriptions of oneself.

Social Identification

Accepting the group as an extension of the self and therefore basing one's self-definition on the group's qualities and characteristics.

(Group) Interrelations

An aggregation of two or more people who are to some degree in dynamic interrelation with one another (McGrath, 1984).

Self-Report Measure

An assessment method, such as a questionnaire, test, or interview, that asks the respondents to describe their feelings, attitudes, or beliefs.

Scapegoat

An individual or group who is unfairly held responsible for a negative event and outcome; the innocent target of interpersonal hostility.

Personal Identity

An individual's perception of those aspects of his or her self-concept that derive from individualistic, personal qualities such as traits, beliefs, and skills.

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 be common to most or all of the members of the same group or social category.

(Group) Systems

An intact social system, complete with boundaries, interdependence for some shared purpose, and differentiated member roles (Hackman & Katz, 2010).

(Group) Face-To-Face

Any number of persons engaged in interaction with one another in a single face-to-face meeting or a series of such meetings (Bales, 1950).

Loneliness

Cognitive and affective malaise, including sadness, dejection, self-deprecation, and boredom, experienced when one's personal relationships are perceived to be too few or too unsatisfying.

(Group Goals & Tasks) Generating

Concocting strategies, producing new ideas, developing plans, creating novel solutions (e.g. a community group coming up with fund-raising ideas).

Egocentric

Emphasizing one's own needs, perspective, and importance, particularly in contrast to other individuals or the group.

Sociocentric

Emphasizing the group's needs, perspectives, and importance, particularly in contrast to those of individual members or oneself.

Ostracism

Excluding one or more individuals from a group by reducing or eliminating contact with the person, usually by ignoring, shunning, or explicitly banishing them.

Group Fallacy

Explaining social phenomena in terms of the group as a whole instead of basing the explanation on the individual-level processes within the group; ascribing psychological qualities, such as will, intentionality, and mind, to a group rather than to the individuals within the group.

(Group Characteristics) Interdependence

Group members depend on one another, in that each member influences and is influenced by each other member.

(Group Characteristics) Structure

Groups are organized, with each individual connected to others in a pattern of relationships, roles, and norms.

(Group Characteristics) Interaction

Groups create, organize, and sustain relationship and task interactions among members.

(Group Characteristics) Goals

Groups have instrumental purposes, for they facilitate the achievement of aims or outcomes sought by the members.

(Group Characteristics) Cohesion

Groups unite members in a nodded network of interpersonal relations recognized by both members of the group and the outside of it.

Collectivists

Individuals predisposed to put the group's goals and needs above their own.

Individualists

Individuals predisposed to put their own personal interests and motivations above the group's interests and goals.

(Group) 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 (Gould, 2004)

Group Dynamics

Influential actions, processes, and changes that occur within and between groups.

(Group Goals & Tasks) Negotiating

Managing differences of opinions resolving conflicts and disputes, improving coordination (e.g. a team arguing about who is to blame for losing an account).

Interdependence

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

Attachment Style

One's characteristic approach to relationships with other people; the basic styles include secure, preoccupied, fearful and dismissing, as defined by the dimensions of anxiety and avoidance.

Overt Observation

Openly watching and recording information with no attempt to conceal one's research purposes.

Group Development

Patterns of change in a group's structure and interactions that occur over the course of the group's existence.

Individual Mobility

Reducing one's connection to a group in order to minimize threats to individual self-esteem.

Mere-Exposure Effect

Repeated exposure to a stimulus leads to a greater liking of the stimulus.

Social Creativity

Restricting comparisons between the in-group and other groups to tasks and outcomes when the in-group is more successful than other groups and avoiding areas in which the other groups surpass the in-group.

Paradigm

Scientists' shared assumptions about the phenomena they study; also a set of research procedures.

(Group Goals & Tasks) Choosing

Selecting between alternatives, settling on a single option among many, making a choice (e.g. a legislative body voting).

Downward Social Comparison

Selecting people who are less well off as targets for social comparison (rather than individuals who are similar or superior to oneself or one's outcomes).

Upward Social Comparison

Selecting people who are superior to oneself or whose outcomes surpass one's own as targets for social comparison.

(Group Goals & Tasks) Executing

Taking action, carrying out a plan, making something, performing a task (e.g. a theater group performing a play, a military squad on the attack, a work crew building a house, etc.).

Stereotype Threat

The anxiety-provoking belief that others' perceptions and evaluations will be influenced by their negative stereotypes about one's groups that can, in some cases, interfere with one's ability to perform to one's capabilities.

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.

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.

Personality

The configuration of distinctive but enduring dispositional characteristics, including traits, temperament, and values, that characterize an individual's responses across situations.

Task Interaction

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

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).

Validity

The degree to which a measurement method assesses what it was designed to measure.

Reliability

The degree to which a measurement technique consistently yields the same conclusion at different times. For measurement techniques with two or more components, reliability is also the degree to which these components yield similar conclusions.

(Particularly Influential) Agreeableness

The degree to which an individual tends to respond positively across situations, including related qualities as trusting, straight-forward, warm, cooperative, modest, and sympathetic.

(Particularly Influential) Extraversion

The degree to which an individual tends to seek out social contacts, including such related qualities as outgoing, enthusiastic, energetic, and assertive.

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.

Group Culture

The distinct way that members of a group represent their experiences, including shared knowledge, beliefs, rituals, custom, rules, language, norms, and practices.

Level of Analysis

The focus of study when examining a multilevel process or phenomenon, such as the micro-level (individuals in a group), the meso-level (the group), or the macro-level (the organization or society where the group is located).

Affiliation

The gathering together of individuals (typically members of the same species) in one location; also, a formalized relationship, as when an individual is said to be affiliated with a group or organization.

Need to Belong

The general desire to seek out and join with other people, which, when unsatisfied, causes a state of tension and want.

Social Categorization

The perceptual classification of people, including the self, into categories.

Group Structure

The persistent and interrelated features of a group, such as roles and norms, that influence the functioning of the group as a whole and create regularities in the interactions of its members.

Social Comparison

The process of contrasting one's personal qualities and outcomes, including beliefs, attitudes, values, abilities, accomplishments, and experiences, to those of other people.

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.

Membership

The state of belonging to, or being included in, a social group; also the collective body of all members in a group.

Elaboration Principle

The tendency for groups to expand in size as nonmembers become linked to a group member and thus become part of the group itself.

Proximity Principle

The tendency for individuals to form interpersonal relations with those who are close by

Similarity Principle

The tendency for individuals to seek out, affiliate with, or be attracted to an individual who is similar to them in some way; this tendency causes groups and other interpersonal aggregates to be homogenous rather than diverse.

Reciprocity Principle

The tendency for liking to be met with liking in return; when A likes B, then B will tend to like A.

Shyness

The tendency to be reserved or timid during social interactions, usually coupled with feelings of discomfort and nervousness.

Familiarity Principle

The tendency to prefer the familiar. (e.g. true images of others, but a reflected image of oneself).

Ingroup-Outgroup Bias

The tendency to view the in-group, its members, and its products more positively than other groups, their members, and their products. In-group favoritism is more common than outgroup rejection.

Multilevel Perspective

The view that recognizes that a complete explanation of group processes and phenomena requires multiple levels of analysis, including individual (micro), group (meso), and organizational or societal (macro) level.

(Group) Shared Tasks & Goals

Three or more people who work together interdependently on an agreed-upon activity or goal (Keyton, 2002).

(Group) Communication

Three or more people who: a. Think of themselves as a group; b. Are independent (e.g. with regard to shared goals or behaviors that affect one another); and c. Communicate (i.e. interact) with one another (via face-to-face or technological means) (Frey & Konieczka, 2010).

Online Group (E-Group)

Two or more individuals who interact with each other solely or primarily through computer-based information technologies (e.g. email, instant messaging, social networking sites) rather than through face-to-face interactions.

(Group) Categorization

Two or more individuals who perceive themselves to be members of the same social category (Turner, 1982).

Offline Group

Two or more individuals whose interaction with each other occur primarily or solely with each other in conventional, face-to-face situations and not via computer-based technology.

(Group) Interaction

Two or more interdependent individuals who influence one another through social interaction (APA Dictionary of Psychology, 2007).

(Group) Size

Two or more people (Williams, 2010).

(Group) Shared Identity

Two or more people possessing a common social identification and whose existence as a group is recognized by a third party (R. Brown, 2000).

(Group) 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 (Shaw, 1981).

Motivation

Wants, needs, and other psychological processes that energize behavior and thereby determine its form, intensity, and duration.

Participant Observation

Watching and recording group activities as a member of the group or participation in the social process.

Covert Observation

Watching and recording information on the activities of individuals and groups without their knowledge.

Minimax Principle

a general preference for relationships and memberships that provide the maximum number of valued rewards and incur the fewest number of possible cons.