MAGC 206

LESSON 3
 PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS USED IN GROUP ACTIVITY SESSION

1. PSYCHOANALYTIC METHOD
- Freud held that all behavior is determined or caused by some
factors which an individual is totally unaware of. Example:
Freudian slips made in speech, green jokes, accidental
forgetting and losing of objects.
- At some point, the organism experiences a trauma which is not
available to consciousness, the best way to release to
consciousness is through catharsis, a process of reliving
repressed memories “crying it out or blowing it off”.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS USED IN GROUP ACTIVITY SESSION

- If a person understands his unconscious motives, he can easily

gain control of his problems.
- Many of Freud’s followers have adapted psychodynamic theory
as applied to groups. For example: Eric Berne’s Transactional
Analysis, Fritz Pearl Gestalt and Frank Moreno Psycho Drama.
According to psychodynamic theory, group members act out
the groups unresolved conflicts from early childhood or
previous life experiences.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS USED IN GROUP ACTIVITY SESSION

2. BEHAVIORISTIC AND LEARNING THEORIES

- Important contributors to this method were J.B. Watson, Ivan
Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner. The group believed that people can be
trained to live effectively through the application of conditioning
principles to the individual and society.
- Albert Bandura has developed another learning paradigm
known as social learning. Learning takes place through
observation by vicarious experience through the use of
reinforcement and punishment.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS USED IN GROUP ACTIVITY SESSION

3. EXISTENTIALISM
- Emphasis on man’s freedom of choice or from the standpoint
of the free will and his responsibility for his judgment and
action.
- It concerns the now and focuses on the moment not on the
past or in the future but on what one is currently saying,
feeling, thinking, doing, and sensing.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS USED IN GROUP ACTIVITY SESSION

4. HUMANISTIC APPROACH
- Emphasizes that individuals have much potentials within them
and it is society’s responsibility to encourage its development
while interfering as little as possible with its expression.
- An individual can be assisted to develop insight and be more
person-centered rather than problem-centered. Through
incentives, encouragement, and the unconditional position of
self-regard, positive cues supplant the negative stimuli
associated with the problem.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS USED IN GROUP ACTIVITY SESSION

5. FIELD THEORY
- The application of Kurt Lewin’s Theory combines
phenomenological approaches with a system perspective.
- It emphasizes the need to understand the subjective
experience of the person and likewise applies the need to
rethink the typical manner of understanding the causes of
behavior being observed.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS USED IN GROUP ACTIVITY SESSION

- The person must be seen as an element in a larger system.

a. Roles referring to the status and rights and duties of group members
b. Norms which are the standard set by the group
c. Power – abilities to persuade others
d. Cohesiveness – attraction of the members of the group to remain with one
another
e. Consensus or the degree of agreement regarding issues or problem of the
group
f. Valence is the strength or potence of the goals towards life space of the
group
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
A. BASIC GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODEL (Tuckman)
Identifies 5 stages of group development:
1. FORMING (Orientation) – a stage of ‘hesitant participation
as members figure out what is acceptable behavior in the
group and rely on the group leader for structure and guidance
2. STORMING (Conflict) – a phase of conflict within the group
where members disagree about such things as leadership and
how to approach the task
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS

3. NORMING (Structure) – structure, roles and group

cohesion emerge
4. PERFORMING (Work) – the group’s energies are
focused on successful task completion
5. ADJOURNING (Dissolution) – characterized by
members’ disengagement from the group as they
begin to cope with its termination
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
B. INTEGRATIVE MODEL OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT
Identifies 5 stages of group development: (Wheelan)
1. DEPENDENCY and CONCLUSION – new members worry
about the group’s rules and whether they will be accepted. They
rely on a leader for protection and structure
2. COUNTERDEPENDECY and FIGHT– characterized by conflict
between a single member and the leader, or among members and
leaders
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
3. TRUST and STRUCTURE – the open negotiation of group
goals and structure --- what the group is going to do, and how
they are going to do it
4. WORK and PRODUCTIVITY – the group works to create a
product; good communication, awareness of time, and the
availability of resource are essential
5. TERMINATION – encompasses the multiple endings associated
with every group; impending termination may result in regression
to earlier stages, and conflict and negativity may occur
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
C. MEMBERSHIP CHANGE AND GROUP DEVELOPMENT
5-stage theory that describes the relationship between a new

group member: (Levine and Moreland)

1. INVESTIGATION PHASE – the group and the potential member
check each other out, and the role transition of entry occurs if they
meet each other’s entrance criteria
2. SOCIALIZATION PHASE – the group and the new member may
attempt to change one another to better fit their needs
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS

3. MAINTENANCE PHASE – occurs as the person and the group

agrees on the member’s role in the group
4. RESOCIALIZATION PHASE – occurs when the group seeks
to assimilate the new member; if resolution takes place, then the
role of transition convergence occurs and the person regains full
membership
5. REMEMBRANCE PHASE – both the person and the group
evaluate their experience (e.g. when one member retired)
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
D. GROUP DEVELOPMENT in SPECIALIZED GROUPS
WORCHEL’S DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH
Stage 1: PERIOD OF DISCONTENT – discontented members
express their frustrations with the group
Stage 2: PRECIPITATING EVENT – discontented members are
unified by some event that symbolizes their concerns
Stage 3: GROUP IDENTIFICATION – the group starts to
distinguish itself from the parent group
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS

Stage 4: GROUP PRODUCTIVITY – members focus on group goals

and tasks and how these will be accomplished
Stage 5: INDIVIDUATION – group members shift from a focus on
the group to the satisfaction of their own needs in the group
Stage 6: DECAY – the group begins to disintegrate as members begin
to question the value of the group, power struggles occur, and
leaders are challenged; the cycle repeats
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
GERSICK’S PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM MODEL

– Focuses on the development of small, short-term task groups with

specific deadlines for task completion. Gersick’s study of eight teams
found that the groups exhibited punctuated equilibrium, alternating
between periods of inertia and periods of creativity and change. She also
found that at the halfway point, the group underwent a major transition,
and then made dramatic progress toward task completion.
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
COREY AND COREY’S THERAPY GROUP

DEVELOPMENT MODEL proposes four group stages:

Stage 1: INITIAL STAGE – members are anxious about revealing
themselves
Stage 2: TRANSITION STAGE – members learn the importance
of saying what they think and feel about the group and
how to confront the others in a caring way; defensiveness
and resistance are common in this stage
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS

Stage 3: WORKING STAGE – members are willing to initiate work on

their issues, to have meaningful interactions with other group
members, and to work through conflicts with one another
Stage 4: TERMINATION STAGE – participants discuss what they
have learned in the group and what they will do with
that learning
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
SOCIAL PENETRATION THEORY is a theory of dyadic relationship
development that suggests that relationship develop as people gradually engage in
reciprocal self-disclosure:

Stage 1: ORIENTATION STAGE – people exchange superficial

information about themselves; the areas about which
information is exchanged are expanded in the next stage
Stage 2: EXPLORATORY AFFECTIVE STAGE – but the information
is still not very personal
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS

Stage 3: AFFECTIVE STAGE – close friendships develop; people talk

about many different aspects of themselves and offer praise
and criticism to each other; some intimate details are
exchanged, but some barriers remain
Stage 4: STABLE EXCHANGE STAGE – few relationships reach this
stage, in which both people share very private feelings and
personal possessions
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
- Current thinking on the development of dyadic relationships is that they
change constantly in response to powerful dialectics (opposing yet related
forces). This is called RELATIONAL DIALECTICS.
- Three relationship dialectics are:
(1)OPENNESS/CLOSENESS – referring to the tension between revealing
ourselves and maintaining our privacy
(2)NOVELTY/PREDICTABILITY – representing our desire for excitement
and our competing desire for the comfort of the familiar
(3)AUTONOMY/CONNECTION – the tension between our desire to be
independent and our desire to be emotionally connected to another
- The negotiation of these dialectics is the key to survival of the relationship
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
E. SELF-AWARENESS MODEL
- The objective of group dynamics is patterned after the graphic model
of awareness in interpersonal relations (Luft, 1970).
- It is called “Johari Window”, taken from Joe Luft and Harry Ingham of
California, USA. It allows us to see why others may respond to us
differently from what we expect.
- Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson have suggested that other people
respond to us in three distinct ways.
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
- These three responses include:
(1)CONFIRMATION – occurs when others treat us in the manner
consistent with our own notion of who we are; it is not only satisfying, it
strengthens our established self-concept
(2)REJECTION – occurs when others treat us in a manner inconsistent with
our self-definition; ideas are ignored and are discarded as unworkable, the
result is that the individual definitions of self are rejected
(3)DISCONFIRMATION – occurs when others fail to respond in a neutral
way; it suggests to people that they do not exist or they are irrelevant to
others
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
- Shown below are changes that may be applied to intergroup relations
Known to self
1 Open area/public area
“People see me the way I see
myself”, e.g. name, gender,
Known to others affiliation
3 Hidden/Repressed area
These are things we do not reveal
to others or that which are
Not known sensitive, like embarrassing
experiences.
to others
Not known to self
2 Blind Area
“People have certain beliefs
about me but they don’t tell
me”
4 Unknown area
This is the area of the unknown
where neither the individual nor
others are aware of certain
behavior that could influence
interpersonal relationships.
 GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODELS
Principles of Changes From Quadrant 1 to Quadrant 4
1.Any changes in any one quadrant can have a chain reaction to all other
quadrants.
2.It takes energy to hide, deny, or repress behavior. Threat decreases
awareness, while mutual trust enhances interaction.
3.An increased Q1 means better interaction. The smaller the Q1, the poorer
the communication.
4.Increased awareness or sensitivity means appreciating the covert aspects of
behavior in Quadrants 2, 3 and 4.