Introduction to Group Dynamics

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Introduction to Group Dynamics
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Groups, groups, groups

• The Impressionists a group of painters
• The 1980 Olympic Hockey team a team
• The Andes Rugby Team a group of survivors
• Jobs vs. Sculley Two executives
• The Apollo 13 crew 3 astronauts
• Questions to consider ?

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Overview

• What is a group?
• What are some common characteristics of groups?
• What assumptions guide researchers in their
  studies of groups and the processes within
  groups?
• What fields and what topics are included in the
  scientific study of group dynamics?

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What is a Group?

• Definition of a group
• Two or more individuals who are connected to one
  another by social relationships.

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Two or more individuals who are connected to one
another by social relationships.

• Size dyads and triads to large collectives (this
  class, mobs, audiences)

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Two or more individuals who are connected to one
another by social relationships.

• Connected members are linked, networked

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Two or more individuals who are connected to one
another by social relationships.

• Social, interpersonal connection not categorical
  only

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Types of groups

• Billions of groups in the world, but they can be
  classified into basic categories, or clusters
• Cooley (1907) drew a distinction between primary
  and secondary groups

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Examples
Characteristics
Type of Group
Families, close friends, tight-knit peer groups,
gangs, elite military squads
Small, long-term groups characterized by
face-to-face interaction and high levels of
cohesiveness, solidarity, and member
identification
Primary groups
Congregations, work groups, unions, professional
associations
Larger, less intimate, more goal-focused groups
typical of more complex societies
Secondary groups

• (Cooley, 1907)

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Types of groups

• Cooley (1907)
• primary
• secondary
• Arrow and her colleagues offer a more
  fine-grained analysis
• planned vs. emergent

Concocted
Founded
Circumstantial
Self-organizing
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Examples
Characteristics
Type of Group
Deliberately formed by the members themselves or
by an external authority, usually for some
specific purpose or purposes
Planned groups
Production lines, military units, task forces,
crews, professional sports teams
Planned by individuals or authorities outside the
group.
Concocted
Study groups, small businesses, expeditions,
clubs, associations
Planned by one or more individuals who remain
within the group
Founded
Groups that form spontaneously as individuals
find themselves repeatedly interacting with the
same subset of individuals over time and settings
Emergent groups
Waiting lines (queues), crowds, mobs, audiences,
bystanders
Emergent, unplanned groups that arise when
external, situational forces set the stage for
people to join together, often only temporarily,
in a unified group
Circumstantial
Study groups, friendship cliques in a workplace,
regular patrons at a bar
Emerge when interacting individuals gradually
align their activities in a cooperative system of
interdependence.
Self-organizing
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• Perceiving groups people intuitively draw
  distinctions between groupssome look groupier
  than others

Lickel, Hamilton, Sherman, and their colleagues
asked people to rate many kinds of aggregations
on a scale from 1 (not at all a group) to 9 (very
much a group).
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Examples
Characteristics
Type of Group
Families, romantic couples, close friends, street
gangs
Small groups of moderate duration and
permeability characterized by substantial levels
of interaction among the members, who value
membership in the group
Intimacy groups
Teams, neighborhood associations
Work groups in employment settings and
goal-focused groups in a variety of nonemployment
situations
Task groups
Crowds, audiences, clusters of bystanders
Aggregations of individuals that form
spontaneously, last only a brief period of time,
and have very permeable boundaries
Weak associations
Women, Asian Americans, physicians, U.S.
citizens, New Yorkers
Aggregations of individuals who are similar to
one another in terms of gender, ethnicity,
religion, or nationality.
Social categories
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What are some common characteristics of groups?

• Interaction task and relationship
• Interdependence sequential, reciprocal, mutual

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Common characteristics of groups (continued)

• Structure roles, norms, relations
• Goals generating, choosing, negotiating,
  executing

McGraths Taxonomy of Group Tasks is based on 2
key dimensions Choosing vs. Executing (Doing)
and Generating vs. Negotiating
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McGraths Taxonomy of Group Tasks is based on 2
key dimensions Choosing vs. Executing (Doing)
and Generating vs. Negotiating
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Common characteristics of groups (continued)

• Cohesion unity and entitativity
• Entitativity is perceived groupness
• Campbells theory of entitativity
• common fate
• similarity
• proximity

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What assumptions guide researchers in their
studies of groups and the processes within groups?

• Group dynamics describes both
• Interpersonal processes in groups
• The scientific study of groups and group
  processes (Kurt Lewin)

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Level of Analysis

• Individual level focus on the individual
  (psychological)
• Group level focus on the group and social
  context (sociological)
• Multilevel adopts multiple perspectives on groups

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The Paradigm assumptions and orientations

• Groups are real
• Group processes are real
• groupmind, collective conscious
• Sherif's (1936) study of norm formation

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Average distance estimates
Alone
Group Session 1
Group Session 3
Group Session 2
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Assumptions (continued)

• Groups are more than the sum of their parts
• Lewin's (1951) field theory behavior is a
  function of the person and the environment
• B f(P, E).

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Assumptions (continued)

• Groups are living systems Tuckman's (1965)
  theory of group development
• forming
• storming
• norming
• performing
• adjourning

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Assumptions (continued)

• Groups are influential
• Groups shape society

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What fields and what topics are included in the
scientific study of group dynamics?

• Interdisciplinary psychology, sociology,
  political science, anthropology, business, etc.

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Topics
Discipline
Groups in cross-cultural contexts societal
change social and collective identities
Anthropology
Work motivation productivity team building
goal setting focus groups
Business and Industry
Therapeutic change through groups sensitivity
training training groups self-help groups
group psychotherapy
Clinical/Counseling Psychology
Information transmission in groups discussion
decision making problems in communication
networks
Communication
Organization of law enforcement agencies gangs
jury deliberations
Criminal Justice
Classroom groups team teaching class
composition and educational outcomes
Education
Leadership intergroup and international
relations political influence power
Political Science
Personality and group behavior problem solving
perceptions of other people motivation conflict
Psychology
Team approaches to treatment family counseling
groups and adjustment
Social Work
Self and society influence of norms on behavior
role relations deviance
Sociology
Team performance effects of victory and failure
cohesion and performance
Sports and Recreation
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• Action research integrates basic and applied
  research.
• Topics group formation, cohesion, structure,
  influence, performance, conflict, etc.

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Group Formation
Individual and the Group
Research Methods
Introduction to Group Dynamics
Power
Influence
Structure
Cohesion and Development
Conflict
Leadership
Decision Making
Performance
Collective Behavior
Groups and Change
Groups in Context
Intergroup Relations
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Group Dynamics!

• the "field of inquiry dedicated to advancing
  knowledge about the nature of groups"
• (Cartwright Zander, 1968, p. 7).

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