6. 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?
7. What is a Group?
Definition of a
group:
Two or more
individuals
who are
connected to
one another
by social
relationships.
8. Two or more
individua
ls who are
connected to
one another by
social
relationships.
Size: dyads and triads to large collectives (this
class, mobs, audiences)
9. Two or more individuals who are
connected to one
another by social relationships.
• Connected: members are
linked, networked
10. Two or more individuals who are
connected to one another by
social relationships.
Social, interpersonal connection: not
categorical only
11. 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
Types of groups
12. Congregations, work
groups, unions,
professional
associations
Larger, less intimate, more
goal-focused groups typical
of more complex societies
Secondary
groups
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
Examples
Characteristics
Type of
Group
(Cooley, 1907)
13. Cooley (1907)
primary
secondary
Arrow and her colleagues offer a
more fine-grained analysis
planned vs. emergent
Types of groups
Concocted Founded Circumstantial Self-organizing
14. 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
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
Groups that form spontaneously as individuals find themselves
repeatedly interacting with the same subset of individuals over time
and settings
Emergent groups
Study groups, small
businesses, expeditions,
clubs, associations
Planned by one or more individuals
who remain within the group
Founded
Production lines, military
units, task forces, crews,
professional sports teams
Planned by individuals or authorities
outside the group.
Concocted
Deliberately formed by the members themselves or by an external
authority, usually for some specific purpose or purposes
Planned groups
Examples
Characteristics
Type of Group
15. Perceiving groups: people intuitively
draw distinctions between
groups—some 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).
16. 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
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
Teams, neighborhood
associations
Work groups in employment
settings and goal-focused groups in
a variety of nonemployment
situations
Task groups
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
Examples
Characteristics
Type of
Group
19. Structure: roles, norms, relations
Goals: generating, choosing,
negotiating, executing
McGrath’s Taxonomy of Group Tasks
is based on 2 key dimensions:
Choosing vs. Executing (Doing) and
Generating vs. Negotiating
Common characteristics of groups
(continued)
20. McGrath’s Taxonomy of Group Tasks
is based on 2 key dimensions:
Choosing vs. Executing (Doing) and
Generating vs. Negotiating
21. Cohesion: unity and entitativity
• Entitativity is perceived
groupness
• Campbell’s theory of
entitativity
• common fate
• similarity
• proximity
Common characteristics of groups
(continued)
22. 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)
23. Individual level: focus on the
individual (psychological)
Group level: focus on the group
and social context
(sociological)
Multilevel: adopts multiple
perspectives on groups
Level of Analysis
24.
25. The Paradigm: assumptions
and orientations
Groups are real
Group processes are real
–groupmind, collective
conscious
–Sherif's (1936) study of
norm formation
26. Person A
Person B
Person C
Convergence
Alone Group
Session 1
Group
Session 3
Group
Session 2
Average
distance
estimates
27. •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).
Assumptions (continued)
28. •Groups are living systems:
Tuckman's (1965) theory of group
development
–forming
–storming
–norming
–performing
–adjourning
Assumptions (continued)
31. What fields and what topics are
included in the scientific
study of group dynamics?
Interdisciplinary:
psychology, sociology,
political science,
anthropology, business,
etc.
32. Team performance; effects of victory and failure; cohesion and performance
Sports and Recreation
Self and society; influence of norms on behavior; role relations; deviance
Sociology
Team approaches to treatment; family counseling; groups and adjustment
Social Work
Personality and group behavior; problem solving; perceptions of other
people; motivation; conflict
Psychology
Leadership; intergroup and international relations; political influence;
power
Political Science
Classroom groups; team teaching; class composition and educational
outcomes
Education
Organization of law enforcement agencies; gangs; jury deliberations
Criminal Justice
Information transmission in groups; discussion; decision making; problems
in communication; networks
Communication
Therapeutic change through groups; sensitivity training; training groups;
self-help groups; group psychotherapy
Clinical/Counseling
Psychology
Work motivation; productivity; team building; goal setting; focus groups
Business and Industry
Groups in cross-cultural contexts; societal change; social and collective
identities
Anthropology
Topics
Discipline
33. Action research: integrates basic
and applied research.
Topics: group formation, cohesion,
structure, influence, performance,
conflict, etc.
