Group Dynamics and Leadership

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Group Dynamics and Leadership

• Psychology 300
• Sociology 360
• William P. Wattles, Ph.D.

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• To understand individuals we must necessarily
  understand their groups.
• Sociology- the scientific study of human social
  behavior, especially the study of the origins,
  organization, institutions, and development of
  human society.
• Psychology- The scientific study of behavior and
  mental processes.

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Group definition

• Two or more interdependent people who influence
  one another through social interaction.

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Group Dynamics

• Dynamic- Characterized by continuous change,
  activity, or progress a dynamic market.
• Marked by intensity and vigor forceful.

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Group Dynamics

• Groups tend to be
• Powerful
• Active
• Fluid
• Catalyzing.

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Bf(P,E)

• Groups greater than their parts

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Entitativity

• Perceived groupness
• Common fate
• Similarity
• Proximity

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Science

• Science Knowledge, especially that gained
  through experience.

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The Scientific Method

• empirical
• a. Relying on or derived from observation or
  experiment empirical results that supported the
  hypothesis.
• b. Verifiable or provable by means of observation
  or experiment empirical laws others can arrive
  at the same results.

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Methods of group study

• Observation
• Participant observation
• Overt and covert observation

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Hawthorne Effect

• All changes led to improved productivity

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The Case Study

• A. Widely used, easy to implement.
• B. Allows for a thorough analysis of the
  subject. Useful when phenomena is rare or new
• C. Provides a description
• D. May disconfirm uniform assumptions
• E. Useful for hypothesis generation.

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Disadvantages of case study

• a. Can confuse the individual and the disorder.
• b. Cannot generalize from this idiographic
  (individual) data or to nomothetic ( general)

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Idiographic vs. Nomothetic data

• Idiographic refers to the individual.
• Nomothetic - Of or relating to the study or
  discovery of general scientific laws.
• When we use nomothetic data we gain and. We lose
  specificity to the individual but we gain in that
  we can now generalize to others.

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Type of correlation

• Positive correlation. The two change in a similar
  direction. Individuals below average on X tend
  to be below average on Y and vice versa.
• Negative correlation the two change in the
  opposite direction. Individuals who are above
  average on X tend to be below average on Y and
  vice versa.

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Correlation Coefficient

• One number that tells us about the strength and
  direction of the relationship between X and Y.
• Has a value from -1.0 (perfect negative
  correlation) to 1.0 (perfect positive
  correlation)
• Perfect correlations do not occur in nature

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Correlation and Causation

• Ice cream sales and the number of shark attacks
  on swimmers are positively correlated.

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Incorrect
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Correct
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Correct
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EXPERIMENT

• Experimenter manipulation
• Independent variable
• Dependent variable
• Two or more groups
• experimental group
• control group
• Random assignment

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Independent Variable

• Under control of the experimenter
• Used to explain changes in the dependent variable
• Example Type of instruction
• Should include a control group

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Dependent Variable

• Not under control by the experimenter
• Presumed to be caused or affected by the
  independent variable
• Example grade on final exam

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Random Assignment

• Essential aspect of experiment
• Allows us to control for all potential confounds
• Each subject has an equal chance of being in each
  group.
• Intact groups not random
• Replication to deal with chance variation

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Reliability

• Does the test measure consistently?
• text The degree to which test scores are free
  from errors of measurement
• Reliability is necessary but not sufficient

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Validity

• Does the test measure what it is supposed to
  measure?

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The End
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Catalyze

• To bring about initiate
• To produce fundamental change in transform.