joining the members are so transitory that they
Group Dynamics
Chapter 1: Introduction to Group
Dynamics
What is a Group?
 A collection of human beings.
 Two or more individuals who are connected by
and within social relationships.
 Most groups are small, usually with only two or
three members, but groups that had been
deliberately created for some specific purpose
tended to be larger.
 Definitions of the word group is varied, but
common among them is an emphasis on social
relations that link members to one another.
 A family is a group because the members are
connected, not just by blood but also be social and
emotional relationships.
 The relations that link the members of the groups
are not of one type. (for example, in families the
relationships are based on kinship, but in the
workplace, they are based on task-related
interdependencies.
 Every individual member of the groups does not
need to be linked to every other person in the
group.
Varieties of Groups
1. Primary Groups
 Small, intimate clusters of close associates, such as
families, good friends, or cliques of peers
 Can influence the behavior, feelings, and
judgments of their members, for members spend
much of their time interacting with one another,
usually in face-to-face settings with many of the
other members present.
 Even when dispersed, members nonetheless feel
they are still “in” the group, and they consider the
group to be a very important part of their lives.
 In many cases, individuals become part of primary
groups involuntarily.
 Other primary groups form when people interact
in significant, meaningful ways for a prolonged
period of time.
 Primary groups protect members from hard, care
for them when they are ill, and provide them with
shelter and sustenance.
2. Social (Secondary) Groups
 Larger and more formally organized than
primary groups, and memberships tend to be
shorter in duration and less emotionally
involving.
 Their boundaries are also more permeable, so
members can leave old groups behind and join
new ones, for they do not demand the level of
commitment that primary groups do.
3. Collectives
 Came into existence when people are drawn
together by something – an event, activity, etc. –
but then dissolves when the experience ends.
 A larger, less intricately interconnected
associations among people.
 Also include social movements of individuals
who, though dispersed over a wide area, display
common shifts in opinion or actions.
 The members are joined by their common
interest or shared actions, but they often owe
little allegiance to the group.
 Formed through happenstance, convenience, or a
short-lived experience, and so the relations
dissolve as soon as the members separate.
4. Categories
 A collection of individuals whoa are similar to
one another in some way.
 If a category has no social implications, then it
only describes individuals who share a feature in
common.
 Members of the same social category of ten share a
common identity with one another.
 Social Identity – part of an individual’s self-
concept which derives from his knowledge of his
membership of a social group together.
 Social Capital – the degree to which individuals,
groups, or larger aggregates of people are linked in
social relationships that yield positive, productive
benefits; analogous to economic capital (fiscal
prosperity), but determined by extensiveness of
social connectedness.
 Social Category – A perceptual grouping of people
who are assumed to be similar to one another in
some ways but different in one or more ways.
 Social categories can also influence the
perceptions of people who are not part of the
category (Stereotype).
 Social categories tend to create divisions between
people, and those divisions can result in a sense of
we and us versus
they and them.
Characteristics of Groups
1. Composition- Who belong to the Group?
 To understand a group, we must know something
about the group’s composition: the qualities of the
individuals who are members of the group.
 Groups may be more than the sum of their parts
but each part defines the whole.
2. Boundaries – Who does Not belong?
 The relationships that link members to one another
define who is in the group and who is not.
 A group is boundaried in a psychological sense;
those who are included in the group are
recognized as members and those who are not part
of the group are excluded outsiders.
 In some cases, these boundaries are publicly
acknowledged: Both members and nonmembers
know who belongs to what group.
 In other cases, the boundaries may be indistinct or
known only to the group members themselves.
 A group’s boundary may also be relatively
permeable. In an open group, membership is fluid;
members may voluntarily come and go as they
please with no consequences. In closed groups, the
membership roster changes more slowly, if at all.
3. Size – How Large is the Group?
 A group’s size influences many of its other
features, for a small group will likely have
different structures, processes, and patterns of
interaction than a larger one.
 A two-person group is so small that it ceases to
exist when one member leaves, and it can never
be broken down into subgroups.
 Larger groups can also have unique qualities, for
the members are rarely connected directly to all
other members, subgroups are very likely to
form, and one or more leaders may be needed to
organize and guide the group.
 A group’s size also determines how many social
ties. are needed to join members to each other
and to the group. Formula n(n-1)/2
 Because of the limits of most people’s capacity to  Roles – specify the general behaviors expected of
keep track of so many social relationships, once people who occupy different positions within the
the group surpasses about 150 individuals, group.
members usually cannot connect with each and  The roles of leader and follower are fundamental
every member of the group. ones in many groups, but other roles – information
 In consequence, in larger groups, members are seeker, information giver, and compromiser – may
connected to one another indirectly rather than emerge in any group.
directly.  Group members’ actions and interactions are also
shaped by the group’s norms that describe what
behaviors should and should not be performed in
4. Interaction – What do Members do?
a given context.
 Groups are the setting for an infinite variety of
 Roles, norms, and other structural aspects of groups,
interpersonal actions.
although unseen and often unnoticed, lie at the heart
 Countless group actions can be categorized into
of their most dynamic processes.
two types: those that focused on the task the group
 Norms within a group are defined and
was dealing with and those that sustained,
renegotiated over time, and conflicts often emerge
strengthened, or weakened interpersonal
as members violate norms.
relationships within the group.
 Task interaction – the conjointly adjusted actions
of group members that pertain to the group’s 7. Goals - What is the Group’s Purpose?
projects, tasks, and goals.  The members of groups pursue their own goals,
 Relationship interaction (socioemotional but because their goals are interdependent,
interaction) – the conjointly adjusted actions of groups promote the pursuit of other members’
group members that relate to or influence the nature goals and group-level goals.
and strength of of the emotional and interpersonal  Joseph E. McGrath (1984) 4 Basic Group Goals
bonds within the group, including both sustaining 1. Generating: Groups concoct the strategies they will
(social support, consideration) and undermining use to accomplish their goals (Type 1: planning tasks)
actions (criticism, conflict)\ or create altogether new ideas and approaches to their
problems (Type 2: creativity tasks)
5. Interdependence – Do the Members Depend on
2. Choosing: Groups make decisions about issues that
Each Other?
have correct solutions (Type 3: intellective tasks) or
 This means that members depend on one another;
questions that can be answered in many ways (Type 4:
their outcomes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and
decision-making tasks)
experiences are partially determined by others in
3. Negotiating: Groups resolve differences of opinion
the group.
among members regarding their goals or decisions
 Interdependence – mutual dependence, as when
(Type 5: cognitive conflict tasks) or settle competitive
one’s outcomes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and
disputes among members (Type 6: mixed-motive
experiences are influenced, to some degree, by
tasks)
other people.
4. Executing: Groups do things, including taking part
 Some groups create only the potential for
in competitions (Type 7: contests/battles/competitive
interdependence among members (line queue at a
tasks) or create some product or carrying out collective
store, audience at a cinema, church goers singing
actions (Type 8: performances/psychomotor tasks)
in unison).
 Some groups perform tasks from nearly all of
 The individuals within these groups can reach McGrath’s categories, whereas others
their goals on their own without making certain concentrate on only one subset of goals.
their actions mesh closely with the actions of
those who are nearby.
 Other groups, such as gangs, families, sports
teams, and military squads, create far higher
levels of interdependency since members reliably
and substantially influence one another’s
outcomes over a long period of time and in a
variety of situations.

6. Structure - How is the Group Organized?

 Group members are not connected to one another
at random, but in organized and predictable
patterns.
 Group structure – the complex of roles, norms,
and intermember relations that organizes the
group.

8. Origin - Founded or Formed?
 Planned groups – deliberately formed by its
members or an external authority for some
purpose. They tend to be organized, task-focused,
and formal. Their membership criteria is defined
clearly. They operate under a set of bylaws,
contracts, or similar regulations that describe the
groups’ acceptable procedures and practices. The
group’s structure may even be formalized in an
organizational chart that defines who has more
authority than others, who reports to whom, and
how subgroups within the overall group are
connected. Despite their overall level of
organization and definition, may also lack
emotional substance. They may be characterized
by considerable routines, ceremonies, and
procedures, but they may also be devoid of any
warmth or emotional depth.
 Emergence groups – which come into existence
spontaneously when individuals join together in
the same physical location or gradually over time
as individuals find themselves repeatedly
interacting with the same subset of individuals.
This kind of group is not explicitly organized,
but they often develop elements of structure as
members determine what kinds of behaviors are
expected of members, who is more or less like,
who leads and who follows, and so on. They
often have unclear boundaries, have no written
rules but are also likely to develop unwritten
norms that define what behaviors are appropriate
and what behaviors are inappropriate. Unlike
planned groups, membership is sought as a
means in and of itself: people don’t join to gain
some goal but because they find satisfaction in
associating with the group members.
 Fourfold Taxonomy of Groups by Arrow,
McGrath, Berdahl
1. Concocted groups – planned by individuals or
authorities outside of the group
2. Founded groups – planned by one or more
individuals who remain within the group.
3. Circumstantial groups – emergent, unplanned groups
that arise when external, situational forces set the stage
for people to join together, often temporarily, in a
unified group.
4. Self-organizing groups – emerge when interacting
individuals gradually align their activities in a
cooperative system of interdependence.
9. Unity - How Cohesive is the Group?
 The integrity, solidarity, social integration, unity,
and groupiness of a group.
 All groups require modicum of cohesiveness or
 else the group would disintegrate and cease to
exist as a group.
 Cohesive groups hold on to their members tightly,
and members usually value their membership, and
are quick to identify themselves as a members.
 A group’s cohesiveness, however, is often based
on commitment to the group’s purposes, rather
than on social bonds between members.
 Individuals may not like each other a great deal,
and yet, when they join together, they experience
powerful feelings of unity as they work
collaboratively to achieve an important end.
10. Entitativity: Does the Group Look Like a Group?
 To describe the extent to which a group seems to
be a single, unified entity – a real group.
 It is the “groupiness” of a group, perceived rather
than actual group unity or cohesion.
 It is substantially influenced by similarity,
proximity, and common fate, as well as such
perceptual cues as pragnanz and permeability.
 Proximity is also a signal of entitativty, for the
smaller the distance separating individuals, the
more likely perceivers will assume they are seeing
a group rather than individuals who happen to be
collocated.
 The principle of common fate also predicts
perceived entitativity, for if all the members begin
to act in similar ways or move in a relatively
coordinated fashion, then your confidence that this
cluster is a unified group would be bolstered.
What are Group Dynamics?
 The word dynamic comes from the Greek
dynamikos, which means to be strong, powerful,
and energetic.
 Dynamic implies the influence of forces that
combine, sometimes smoothly but sometimes in
opposition, to create continual motion and change.
 Group dynamics – the influential interpersonal
processes that occur in and between groups over
time.
Dynamic Group Processes
1. Formative Processes
 Such as the need to belong and affiliate in groups.
Contextual factors that promote the formation of
groups. And the development of group cohesion.
2. Influence Processes
 Including the aspects of groups structure (norms,
roles, relationships), conformity and dissent,
social power, obedience to group authority, and
leadership
3. Performance Processes
 Such as group productivity, social motivation,
working in teams, and collaborative decision
making
4. Conflict Processes
 Conflict processes within groups – intragroup
conflict – and between groups – intergroup
conflict
5. Contextual Processes
 Processes that are dependent on the group’s physical
setting and specific purpose, including change-
promoting groups and large collectives
*Insert Major Topics in the Field of Group Dynamics
Process and Progress Over Time
 In most groups, the same sorts of issues arise over
time, and once resolved new processes are initiated
that further change the nature of the group and its
members.
 Groups tend to cycle repeatedly through some of
these stages as the members strive to maintain a
balance between task-oriented actions and
emotionally expressive behaviors.
Why Study Groups?
1. To understand People
 When people encounter a group of some type,
tend to see only the individuals in these groups
and not the groups themselves, they resist
explanations that highlight group-level
influences.
 Even though people speak of such concepts as
teamwork, leadership, and cohesion, they tend to
translate these group- level processes into
individualistic ones.
 Fundamental attribution error (FAE) occurs
because perceivers are more likely to attribute a
person’s actions to personal, individual qualities
rather than external, situational forces –
including groups.
 Perceivers are also often surprised when the
same individual acts very differently when he or
she changes groups, for they feel that personal,
individualistic qualities are the primary causes of
behavior, and that group-level processes should
play only a minor role in determining one’s
outcomes.
 People behave differently when they are a part
of a group rather than alone.
 As children grow older, their peers replace the
family as the source of social values, and when
they become adults, their actions and outlooks are
then shaped by an even larger network of
interconnected groups.
 People, when in groups, conform to group
pressures, and as a result engage in all sorts of
behaviors that they would never do had they
been isolated from the group’s influence.
2. To understand the Social World
 The study of groups is also essential for
understanding organizations, communities, and
society itself.
 Groups are interpersonal microstructures that link
individuals to society,
 Just as characteristics of the specific individuals
who belong to a group shape the group;s basic
nature, so the groups within a social system
determine that society’s culture and institutions.
3. Application to Practical Problems
 Groups are now the makers, the builders, and
producers of nearly everything the world needs
and consumes. Groups, too, are the world’s
deciders.
 A pragmatic orientation gives the field of group
dynamics an interdisciplinary character.
*Insert Table in Interdisiplinary Interest in Groups
and Group Processes