Introduction to Group Dynamics
Chapter 1
Overview
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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?
Do You Consider These
To be a Group?
Individuals on a flight from Toronto to Montreal?
Watching a Toronto Maple Leafs game at the ACC?
Individuals taking the subway?
3 children playing in a sandbox?
The American Idols?
An executive board?
What is a Group?
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Definition:
Two or more individuals who are
connected to one another by social
relationships.
Size: dyads and triads to large
collectives (this class, mobs, audiences)
Connected: members are linked,
networked
Social, interpersonal connection: not
categorical
Types of Groups
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Perceiving groups: people intuitively draw
distinctions between intimate groups, taskfocused groups, loose associations, and more
general social categories.
Billions of groups in the world, but they can be
classified into basic categories, or clusters
How are groups classified?
Types of Groups
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Cooley (1909) drew a distinction between
primary and secondary groups
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Types of groups:
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Primary
Secondary
Planned (concocted and founded)
Emergent (circumstantial and self-organizing)
Types of Groups (cont’d)
Type of
Group
Characteristics
Examples
Primary groups
Small, long-term groups
characterized by face-to-face
interaction & high levels of
cohesiveness, solidarity, &
member identification
Families, close friends,
tight-knit peer groups,
gangs, elite military
squads
Secondary
groups
Larger, less intimate, more
goal-focused groups typical
of more complex societies
Congregations, work
groups, unions,
professional associations
(Cooley, 1909)
Types of Groups (cont’d)
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Arrow and her colleagues (2000)
offer a more fine-grained analysis
planned vs. emergent
Concocted
Founded
Circumstantial Self-Organizing
Type of Group
Planned groups
Concocted
Founded
Emergent groups
Circumstantial
Self-organizing
Characteristics
Examples
Deliberately formed by the members themselves or by an external
authority, usually for some specific purpose or purposes
Planned by individuals or authorities
outside the group.
Production lines, military
units, task forces, crews,
professional sports teams
Planned by one or more individuals Study groups, small
who remain within the group
businesses, clubs,
associations
Groups that form spontaneously as individuals find themselves
repeatedly interacting with the same subset of individuals over
time and settings
Emergent, unplanned groups arising
Waiting lines (queues),
when external, situational forces set
crowds, mobs, audiences,
the stage for people to join together,
bystanders
often only temporarily, in a unified
group
Emerge when interacting individuals
Study groups, friendship
gradually align their activities in a
cliques in a workplace,
cooperative system of
regular patrons at a bar
interdependence.
Type of
Group
Characteristics
Examples
Intimacy
groups
Small groups of moderate duration &
permeability characterized by large
levels of interaction amongst members,
who value membership in the group
Families, romantic couples,
close friends, street gangs
Task groups
Work groups in employment settings and
goal-focused groups in a variety of nonemployment situations
Teams, neighborhood
associations
Weak
associations
Aggregations of individuals that form
spontaneously, last for brief periods, and
have very permeable boundaries
Crowds, audiences, clusters
of bystanders
Social
categories
Aggregations of individuals similar to
one another in terms of gender, ethnicity,
religion, or nationality.
Women, Asian Americans,
physicians, U.S. citizens,
New Yorkers
What are some common
characteristics of groups?
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Interaction: task and relationship
Interdependence: sequential,
reciprocal, mutual
Structure: roles, norms, relations
Goals: generating, choosing,
negotiating, executing
Characteristics of Groups Interaction
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Groups are systems that create, organize,
and sustain interaction among members
Task Interaction – actions performed by
individuals pertaining to group’s tasks and
goals
Relationship Interaction – actions performed
by the group relating to emotional and
interpersonal bonds
Characteristics of Groups Interdependence
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Experiences are determined by other
members of the group and vice versa
Sequential – influence of one member to the
next.
Reciprocal – two or more members may
influence each other
Multilevel – the outcome of larger groups
are influenced by the activities of smaller
groups
Interdependence Diagram
Characteristics of Groups Structure
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Groups’ structure are often organized
in predictable patterns
Roles – set of behaviours expected of
people who occupy certain positions
Norms – a consensual standard that
describes what behaviours should and
should not be performed in a given
context
Characteristics of Groups Goals
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Groups often strive towards some
common outcome
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McGrath’s Circumplex Model of Group
Tasks
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Generating
Choosing
Negotiation
Executing
Cohesiveness
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Group Cohesion: the strength of the
bonds linking individuals to the group
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Attraction to specific group members
and efforts to achieve goals
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Entitativity is perceived groupness
rather than an aggregation of
independent, unrelated individuals
Cohesiveness
Campbell’s Theory of Entitativity (1958)
Common Fate – do individuals
experience the same outcomes?
Similarity – do individual perform
similar behaviours or resemble
one another
Proximity – how close together are
the individuals in the group
Group Dynamics
… the "field of inquiry dedicated to advancing
knowledge about the nature of groups"
(Cartwright & Zander, 1968)
What Assumptions Can Be Made?
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Group dynamics describes both:
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Interpersonal processes in groups
The scientific study of groups and group
processes (Kurt Lewin)
Level of Analysis
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Individual level: focus on the individual
(psychological)
Group level: focus on the group and social
context (sociological)
Multilevel: adopts multiple perspectives on groups
Assumptions (cont’d)
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The paradigm: Assumptions and Orientations
 Groups are real
 Group processes are real
 Groupmind – hypothetical mental force linking
group members together
 Sherif's (1936) study of norm formation
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Groups are influential
Groups shape society
Person A
Convergence
Average
distance
estimates
Person B
Person C
Alone
Group
Session 1
Group
Group
Session 2 Session 3
Assumptions (cont’d)
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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).
Group Development
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Groups are living systems: Tuckman's
(1965) theory of group development
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forming
storming
norming
performing
adjourning
Performing
Task
Norming
Storming
Adjourning
Forming
What Fields Study Group
Dynamics?
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Interdisciplinary:
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psychology
sociology
political science
anthropology
business
Discipline
Anthropology
Topics
Groups in cross-cultural contexts; societal change; social and
collective identities
Business / Industry Work motivation; productivity; team building; goal setting
Clinical/Counseling Therapeutic change through groups; sensitivity training; training
Psychology
groups; self-help groups; group psychotherapy
Communication
Information transmission in groups; discussion; decision
making; problems in communication; networks
Criminal Justice
Organization of law enforcement; gangs; jury deliberations
Education
Classroom groups; team teaching; class composition and
educational outcomes
Political Science
Leadership; intergroup and international relations; political
influence; power
Psychology
Personality and group behavior; problem solving; perceptions of
other people; motivation; conflict
Social Work
Team approaches to treatment; counseling; groups & adjustment
Sociology
Self & society; influence of norms on behavior; deviance
Sports &
Team performance; effects of victory and failure; cohesion and
Recreation
performance
Fields and Topics (cont’d)
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Action research: integrates basic and
applied research.
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Topics: group formation, cohesion,
structure, influence, performance,
conflict, etc.