History of Group Dynamics
Class Exercise

1) List everything you do in a
typical day from the moment you
wake up to the moment you fall
asleep.

3) Count on your list all of the
activities you perform with groups
and those you perform alone.
Calculate a percentage of group
activities.

2) Write at least ten different
answers to the following question:
Who am I?

4) Count on your list descriptions
that include information about the
groups you belong to (and those
that don’t). Calculate a percentage.

History of Group Dynamics
The history of Group Dynamics (or group processes has a
consistent, underlying premise: ‘the whole is greater than the sum
of its parts’.
A social group is an entity, which has qualities that cannot be
understood just by studying the individuals that make up the group.
In general, as a field of study, this field in psychology and
organizational development has roots both in psychology and
sociology.
Look into the table as to how this field started and flourished.
TIMELINE OF GROUP DYNAMICS
Early Beginnings: Late 19th Century & LeBon
 Study of groups began in late
1800s
 Roots in psychology and
sociology
 Collective mind (LeBon)

Contagion
Psychological Perspective
 Social facilitation
 Triplett (1898)
 Noticed bicyclists performed better when riding with others
 Study with children performing simple task either alone or
with others.
 Results:
 Children performed better when in the
presence of others compared to when alone
Kurt Lewin
 “There
is no more magic
behind the fact that groups
have properties of their own,
which are different than the
properties of their subgroups
or their individual members,
than behind the fact that
molecules have properties
which are different from the
properties of the atoms or ions
of which they are composed.”
-Lewin
 Groups
could
scientifically
be
studied
 Field theory
B = f (P, E)
 Lifespace

 Research Center for Group
Dynamics

Adapted experimentation to
the problems of group life
‘There is nothing so practical as a good
theory’
 Lewin: Theoretical and applied research should go hand
in hand
Theory
Practice
Rodney Dangerfield Era “I don’t get no respect.”
 Experimental model- trying to gain respect
 Study
of small groups, in the lab, with undergraduates,
manipulating one factor

Cause-effect
 Research in the 60s and 70s
 Conformity
 Group polarization
 Helping
 Social facilitation
 Group aggression
Sociological Perspective
 In 1950s sociologists looked at  Forefathers
groups as miniature social
systems
of sociological
thought:
Durkheim
 Cooley
 Mead

 New Measurement
techniques:
Sociometry
 Interaction Process Analysis

Today’s Group Dynamics
 Today, research is conducted by a variety of disciplines
 Psychologists,
communication researchers, social workers,
sociologists…
 Today
group dynamics researchers use a variety of
research methods
 Much research focuses on real world groups
Dracula Exercise

This problem solving exercise will be a good
introduction to group dynamics.

TASKS:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Read situation sheet
Individually create a plan
Individually rank items from most important to
least important
As a group, rank items again
Score your own and your groups ranking
1)
2)
Use answer sheet and compute absolute values
The lower the score the better!
Dracula Exercise

Answer the following questions.








What is the group’s goal
What were the patterns of communication?
How did leadership emerge in the group?
What determined how influential each member was?
What method of decision making was used and how effective was it?
Why/why didn’t members challenge each other?
What conflict arose and how were they managed?
What actions by the group members helped/hurt the team?