Psych 272
Group Dynamics
I. Introduction
• A. Two thirds of our waking day is spent in
groups.
• B. Definition of a Group: Two or more
people where some form of social exchange
takes place (i.e., mutual social influence).
• e.g., football game, elevator interaction
C. Group Size
• Dyads (2 people)
• ***
• Triads (3 people)
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• 4 to 6 people
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• 7 or more people
• ***
II. History of Group Dynamics
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A. The Group Mind
1. Freud: The Primal Horde
2. Le Bon and Tarde: The Primal Herd
3. The Group Mind concept left social
psychology flat on its back.
B. The Bell, Book, and Candle of Group
Dynamics
1. The Bell: Social Facilitation
2. The Book: Management and the Worker
3. The Candle: Kurt Lewin
111. Zajonc’s Theory of Social
Facilitation --The Bell
• A. Research investigated the effects of the mere
presence of another person on performance.
• B. First experimental study: Triplett (1898),
studied speed of children turning a reel alone or
along with another P. 2nd P led to faster speed for
first P.
• C. Two Types of Effects: Co-action and Audience
1. Audience Effects
• a. Travis (1925) - pursuit rotor task,
• Audience > Alone
• b. Pessin (1933) - learning a list of nonsense
syllables (e.g. gyx, pix, kip, pln)
• Audience < Alone
• c. Assuming equal difficulty, why the
difference in the two studies?
• Answer: ***ng
• e.g., typing, golf
• d. Zajonc’s Theory of Social Facilitation handles
this.
• 1) Theory: The mere presence of another person
increases arousal level. Arousal level increases the
probability that the dominant response will be
emitted. For old learning, the dominant response is
the correct response. For new learning, the
dominant response is likely to be an error.
• 2) This theory is derived from Hull’s Drive x Habit
Theory or :
• E = H X D, where E equals reaction potential of a
particular response, H = habit strength, and D =
drive or arousal level.
• For social facilitation, Hi D would be the presence
of another, Low D would be no one present. For
old well learned tasks, the correct response would
have higher habit strength (H) than the incorrect
response. For new, unlearned tasks, H would be
higher for errors than the correct response.
• e.g. 1. Old task, Alone
• Correct response, H = 10, D = 5, H X D = 50
• Incorrect response, H = 1, D = 5, H X D = 5
• e.g. 2. Old task, Audience
• Correct Response, H = 10, D = 10, H X D = 100
• Incorrect Response, H = 1, D = 10, H X D = 10
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e.g. 3. New task, Alone
Incorrect response, H = 10, D = 5, H X D = 50
Correct response, H = 1, D = 5, H X D = 5
e.g. 4. New task, Audience
Incorrect Response, H = 10, D = 10, H X D = 100
Correct Response, H = 1, D = 10, H X D = 10
2. Co-action Effects
• a) Bayer - Chickens Eating, Chicken A eats
until full, Chicken B is then introduced,
Chicken A eats 75% more food.
• b) Chen - Ants and nest building
Day 3
Day 5
 Day 1
•Alone
In pairs
Alone
(6hrs)
(6hrs)
(6hrs)
2. Co-action Effects
• a) Bayer - Chickens Eating, Chicken A eats until
full, Chicken B is then introduced, Chicken A eats
75% more food.
• b) Chen - Ants and nest building
• Day 1
Day 3
Day 5

Alone
(6hrs)
In pairs
(6hrs)
Alone
(6hrs)
• Result: 2:1 performance per ant on Day 3 only
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C. Gates and Allee --Cockroaches
D. Swingle - Goldfish (funny story)
IV. Support and Attack
A. Fits Most Studies
B. Other physiological evidence: Crowded
mice, monkeys, have higher levels of
hydrocortisone, a measure of arousal
• C. Largest Attack: Audience effects are due
to evaluation apprehension and not mere
presence. e.g. Henchy and Glass -Expert vs.
Non-Expert Audience, Cotrell, Nonblindfolded vs. blindfolded audience
D. Retaliation - Return of the
Cockroaches (Zajonc,
Heingarter, and Herman)
yahoo!
• E. Conclusions: Mere Presence
does work, Evaluation
Apprehension may increase
effect.
III. Management and the Worker
(Roethlisberger & Dickson,
1939) -- The Book
• A. Great, but very thick book ---reads like a
mystery.
• B. Researchers used “Scientific Management”
• Inputs
Labour Units
Outputs
• C. Variables
• 1. Proper lighting
• 2. Rest Pauses
• 3. Shorter or Longer Working Hours
• 4. Incentives
D. Research
• 1. Illumination Experiments -- Field (Hawthorne
Plant of Western Electric)
Low
High
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Low
Perfromance
Performance as a function of
Illumination
Illumination
Expected
Actual
• What was this effect called ?
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: First Real Discovery of
Demand Characteristics
• 2. Relay Assembly Room Experiment:
THE RELAY ASSEMBLY ROOM EXPERIMENT
13 PERIODS RANGING FROM TWO TO THIRTY WEEKS
PERIOD:
I.
IN REGULAR DEPARTMENT
11.
INTRODUCTION TO TEST ROOM
111.
IV.
V.
SPECIAL GROUP RATE
TWO 5 MINUTE REST PERIODS
TWO 10 MINUTE REST PERIODS
VI.
SIX 5 MINUTE REST PERIODS
VII.
15 MINUTE A.M. AND P.M. REST PERIODS, HALF HOUR
LUNCH
VIII.SAME AS VII. BUT 4:30 STOP INSTEAD OF 10 HR.DAY (8 TO 6)
IX.
SAME AS VII. BUT 4:00 STOP
X.
BACK TO VII.
XI.
BACK TO VII (BUT SATURDAYS (8-12) OFF)
Xll. BACK TO III (NO LUNCH PERIODS OR REST AGAIN)
Xlll.BACK TO III (BUT BRING YOUR LUNCH AND EAT ON THE JOB)
•Relay assembly room results: Disaster
•3. More Research: failure
•4. Solution: “Why Don’t We Ask Them?”
•a) Interviews: Directive to Client Centered
•b) Discovered: “Our Group”, “Us”, “We”
•5. More Research: Success at Last! Discovered the small group
and things like “Binging”, Sabotage, Absenteeism as weapons of the
small group
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6. Benefits
1. Small Group Processes
2. Demand Characteristics
3. Coffee Breaks, Lunches
4. 40 hr. or less work week
5. Personnel Directors
6. Human Relations Departments
7. IO (Industrial/Organizational
Departments
IV. Kurt Lewin --The Candle
• i. Field Theory: B = f(P,E) = Lsp
• ii. Father of Group Dynamics and some say,
Social Psychology
• A. Most Group Research Traced to Him,
e.g., Festinger, Deutsch, Schachter,
Cartwright, Latane’, Sorrentino
• (Cartwright-Atkinson-Raynor-Sorrentino)
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B. Research - two examples
1. Leaderless Group Discussion
Who uses this today?
Alcoholics Anonymous
Weight Watchers
Internet Chat Groups
2. Leadership Styles
Democratic - happiest, best quality
Authoritarian - most productive, wildest in
absence of authority
• Laissez Faire - least productive
V. Summary and Future Research
• 1. Groups are important
• 2. Groups can be studied scientifically
• 3. Group research is again on the rise -particularly when it comes to intergroup
relations and intergroup conflict