15
Groups in
Context
Just as individuals are embedded
in groups, so groups are
embedded in physical and social
environments. Groups alter their
environments substantially, but
often the place shapes the group.
As Lewin’s law of interaction, B =
f(P, E), states, group behavior
(B) is a function of the persons (P)
who are in the group, but also the
social and physical environment
(E) where the group is located.
 How does the social and
physical environment influence
groups and their dynamics?
 What is the ecology of a group?
 What are the causes and
consequences of a group’s
tendency to establish
territories?
 How can group places, spaces,
and locations be improved?
Places
Spaces
Locations
Design
A sense of
place
Personal
space
Types of
territories
The personplace fit
Stressful
places
Spatial
invasion
Group
territories
Fitting form
to function
Dangerous
places
Seating
Territoriality
in groups
Case:
Apollo 13
All groups
exist
somewhere
Lewin’s field
theory: B = f (P, E)
“E” includes the physical,
behavioral, and
interpersonal
environment
Examples of groups in
specific environmental
contexts
…work teams, gangs,
Impressionists,
fraternities, classes,
airline pilots, astronauts
A sense
of place
Activation
Tense 
Jittery 
 Excited
 Enthusiastic
 Elated
Upset 
Distressed 
 Happy
Displeasure
Pleasure
Ambience
Sad 
 Serene
Gloomy 
 Contented
Tired 
 Placid
Lethargic 
 Calm
Deactivation
Cognitive Overload
• A psychological reaction to situations
and experiences that are so
cognitively, perceptually, or
emotionally stimulating that they tax
or even exceed the individual’s
capacity to process incoming
information.
Attention Restoration Theory
• cognitive resources can be replenished
through interaction with natural
environments (Kaplan, 2008)
Stressful
places
Stress: Negative physiological, emotional,
cognitive, and behavioral responses to
circumstances that threaten—or are thought to
threaten—one’s sense of well-being and safety.
We have strong feelings
in and about places.
Some places make us
feel good: glad to be
there, relaxed, excited,
warm all over…Other
places make us feel bad:
uncomfortable,
insignificant, unhappy,
out of place.
We avoid these places
and suffer if we have to
be in them.
Farbstein & Kantrowitz,
1978
Danger
Noise
Unpleasant
temperature
Dangerous
places
EUEs (extreme and
unusual environments)
Groups that survive in
EUEs respond by
becoming better
groups—more
organized, more
cohesive, and more
efficient. Those that do
not display
breakdowns in team
coordination,
communication, and
leadership.
Environmental contexts
that are unlike those
where humans usually
live, including confined
and isolated
environments.
A number of
groups fail to deal
successfully with
the challenges of
an EUE (e.g.,
Mount Everest)
Places
A sense of
place
Stressful
places
Dangerous
places
Spaces
Locations
Small
Personal
Group
space
Ecology
Spatial
invasion
Just as frogs issue their
croaks from their
favorite places in the
Seating
stream,
and birds neatly
space themselves along
a telephone wire, so
humans display
consistent patterns of
spacing and seating
when immersed in a
group habitat.
Design
Group ecology
includes spatial and
seating dynamics
Personal space:
Maintaining distance
between oneself and
others
Crowding: Reaction to
spatial invasion
Seating (and standing)
arrangement: how the
group is arranged in the
physical place
Personal
space
The area that
individuals
maintain
around
themselves into
which others
cannot intrude
without
arousing
discomfort.
Personal
space
Personal
space
Hall’s concept of
interpersonal zones
Note: Hall did not include a “remote” zone
The Remote
Zone: E-groups
• Online vs. Offline
groups
• Social presence
can be very high
in online groups
Personal
space
Sex differences in space
needs
Status and space
Cross-cultural variations
in spatial dynamics
Equilibrium model of
communication
Spatial
invasion
Density v.
Cognitive
Density-
Control
crowding
reactions
intensity
and inter-
to
hypothesis
ference
crowding
(Freedman)
Seating
Although often
unrecognized, or
simply taken for
granted, seating
patterns influence
interaction,
communication, and
leadership in
groups.
sociofugal seating
arrangements
discourage
interaction
sociopetal
seating
promotes
interaction
Sommer’s (1967) analysis of seating choices
Seating
60
50
40
Percent
choosing each
seating
arrangement
30
20
10
0
Conversing
Cooperating
Competing
Coacting
Places
SpacesTerritoriality
Locations
“A territory is an area of space,
whether of water or
earth
Types
of or air,
territories
which an animal or
group of
animals defends as an exclusive
preserve.
Group Robert
territoriesArdrey
A territorial species
of animals,
The
Territoriality
therefore, is one in
Territorial
in groups Imperative
which all males,
and sometimes females too,
bear an inherent drive to gain
and defend an exclusive
property.”
Design
Types of
territories
Altman (1975) describes three basic types of human
territories: Primary, secondary, and public
Third
Places
People’s homes and
work places are usually
primary territories
(first and second
places).
Oldenburg calls
secondary territories
located in semipublic
areas, usually in an
urban location, where
people go to meet their
friends, socialize, and
“hang out” Third
Places.
Some online “territories” can
serve as third places, such as this
location in World of Warcraft
A seat in a classroom is also
a secondary territory
Haber (1980) found that 88% of all students establish a
"zone" in a class (an area of 2 or 3 seats where they
regularly sit)
 she asked volunteers to sit in someone else's seat in a
class, but many couldn't do it
 27% of the students asked for their seat back
 some blushed when they saw someone in their seat
 those who surrendered their seat came to next class
early
 strongest rebuke if invasion took place during a break
in class
Group
territories
We didn’t rally
them there. We
never went looking
for trouble. We only
rallied on our own
street, but we
always won there.
-- Doc, leader of the
Nortons

Examples: Gangs, “turf
wars,” tags, and graffiti

Group space: temporary
territories

Consequences of
territoriality



adjustment and stress
intergroup conflict
home advantage
Territoriality
in groups
Functions
• Privacy
• Regularizing (organizing)
• Establishing identity
Status
• Higher status members usually control
larger, higher quality territories
Defense
• Intrusions usually generate emotional
reactions
Groups in EUEs
• Adjustment depends on managing
territoriality effectively
Places
The PersonPlace Fit
Behavior
Setting
Locations
•Spaces
Barker studied groups
in
their natural locations
• He concluded most behavior
is determined by fit between
Types of
the place and the person
territories
Group
• physically and temporally
territories
bounded social situations
• checkout-line, classroom,
elevator
Territoriality
in groups
Elements
•
•
•
•
geographically fixed
boundaries
components
program: determine behavior
in the place
Design
The personplace fit
Fitting form
to function
Staffing theory
Fitting form
to function
Synomophy
•
fit between people and the place
Understaffing
Staffing theory
•
•
fit between number of
people, tasks, and setting
• heavy workload
• Involving
• commitment
Overstaffing
• low moral
• too little to do
• unengaged
Fitting form
to function
Staffing
theory
Overstaffed Groups
Encourage members
Restrict membership
Overstaffing
Punish
deviance
Divide
Other
Understaffed Groups
RecruitUnderstaffing
new members
Reorganize
Other
0
10
20
30
Percentage
40
50
60
Duffy’s group
workplace design
Hives
Groups live
and work best
in places that
are
deliberately
designed to
match the
members’
needs and the
group’s
needs.
Work is divisible,
individualized,
structured;
requires little
interaction with
other members.
Dens
Collective tasks
and projects;
equally skilled
members work in
an open space that
all members share.
Cells
Work is complex,
long-term,
individualized;
private spaces
needed
Clubs
Diverse tasks and
projects that vary
greatly in their
collaborative
demands; members
are talented, welltrained, or possess
very specialized skills
Places
Spaces
Locations
Design
A sense of
place
Personal
space
Types of
territories
The personplace fit
Stressful
places
Spatial
invasion
Group
territories
Fitting form
to function
Dangerous
places
Seating
Territoriality
in groups