GROUPS ARE DYNAMIC
JOEBEN02
OBJECTIVES:
1. IDENTIFY SOME
ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT
GROUP DYNAMICS
2. ELABORATE GROUP
ASSUMPTIONS
3. PARADIGM CHANGE
IF YOU WERE LIMITED TO A SINGLE WORD, HOW
WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ACTIVITIES, PROCESSES,
OPERATIONS, AND CHANGES THAT TRANSPIRE IN
SOCIAL GROUPS? WHAT WORD ILLUMINATES THE
INTERDEPENDENCE OF PEOPLE IN GROUPS? AND
WHAT WORD ADEQUATELY SUMMARIZES A GROUP’S
CAPACITY TO PROMOTE SOCIAL INTERACTION, TO
CREATE PATTERNED INTERRELATIONSHIPS AMONG ITS
MEMBERS, TO BIND MEMBERS TOGETHER TO FORM A
SINGLE UNIT, AND TO ACCOMPLISH ITS GOALS?
KURT LEWIN (1943, 1948, 1951), WHO MANY HAVE ARGUED IS
THE FOUNDER OF THE MOVEMENT TO STUDY GROUPS
SCIENTIFICALLY, CHOSE THE WORD DYNAMIC.
WHEN KURT LEWIN (1951) DESCRIBED THE WAY GROUPS AND
INDIVIDUALS ACT AND REACT TO CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES,
HE NAMED THESE PROCESSES GROUP DYNAMICS.
GROUPS TEND TO BE POWERFUL RATHER THAN WEAK,
ACTIVE RATHER THAN PASSIVE, FLUID RATHER THAN STATIC,
AND CATALYZING RATHER THAN REIFYING.
GROUP DYNAMICS THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF
GROUPS; ALSO THE ACTIONS, PROCESSES, AND CHANGES
THAT OCCUR IN SOCIAL GROUP
CARTWRIGHT AND ZANDER ALSO POINTED OUT
WHAT GROUP DYNAMICS IS NOT. IT IS NOT, FOR
EXAMPLE, A THERAPEUTIC PERSPECTIVE HOLDING
THAT PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING CAN BE
ENSURED THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN SMALL
GROUPS GUIDED BY A SKILLED THERAPIST.
ORIENTING ASSUMPTIONS
SOCIOLOGISTS, TRYING TO EXPLAIN HOW
RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS FUNCTION TO SUSTAIN
SOCIETY, HIGHLIGHTED THE ROLE PLAYED BY
GROUPS IN MAINTAINING SOCIAL ORDER (SHOTOLA,
1992).
ÉMILE DURKHEIM
(1897/1966), FOR
EXAMPLE, ARGUED
THAT INDIVIDUALS
WHO ARE NOT
MEMBERS OF
FRIENDSHIP, FAMILY,
OR RELIGIOUS
GROUPS CAN LOSE
THEIR SENSE OF
IDENTITY AND, AS A
RESULT, ARE MORE
LIKELY TO COMMIT
SUICIDE.
COOLEY
SUGGESTED THAT
PRIMARY GROUPS,
SUCH AS FAMILIES,
CHILDREN’S PLAY
GROUPS, AND
EMOTIONALLY CLOSE
PEERS, “ARE
FUNDAMENTAL IN
FORMING THE
SOCIAL NATURE AND
IDEAS OF THE
INDIVIDUAL” (1909, P.
23).
GUSTAVE LE BON PUBLISHED HIS BOOK
PSYCHOLOGIE DES FOULES (PSYCHOLOGY OF
CROWDS), WHICH DESCRIBES HOW INDIVIDUALS
ARE TRANSFORMED WHEN THEY JOIN A GROUP:
“UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, AND ONLY
UNDER THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES, AN
AGGLOMERATION OF MEN PRESENTS NEW
CHARACTERISTICS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF
THE INDIVIDUALS COMPOSING” THE GROUP
NORMAN TRIPLETT’S (1898) LABORATORY STUDY OF
COMPETITION CONFIRMED THAT OTHER PEOPLE, BY
THEIR MERE PRESENCE, CAN CHANGE GROUP
MEMBERS
ALL SCIENCES ARE BASED ON
PARADIGMS, WHICH ARE SETS OF
GUIDING ASSUMPTIONS OR
PRINCIPLES SHARED BY
RESEARCHERS IN THE FIELD (KUHN,
1970).
PARADIGM SCIENTISTS’ SHARED
ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE
PHENOMENA THEY STUDY; ALSO, A
SET OF RESEARCH PROCEDURES
GROUPS ARE REAL
ANALYSIS ASSUMES
THAT EACH PERSON IS
“AN ELEMENT IN A
LARGER SYSTEM, A
GROUP,
ORGANIZATION, OR
SOCIETY. AND WHAT
HE DOES IS PRESUMED
TO REFLECT THE STATE
OF THE LARGER SYSTEM
AND THE EVENTS
OCCURRING IN IT”
(STEINER, 1974, P. 96).
AN INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL ANALYSIS, IN CONTRAST,
FOCUSES ON THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE GROUP.
DURKHEIM (1897/1966) ARGUED THAT HIS STUDIES
OF SUICIDE PROVIDED CLEAR EVIDENCE OF THE
REALITY OF GROUPS, FOR IT REVEALED THAT A VERY
PERSONAL ACT—ENDING ONE’S LIFE—CAN BE
PREDICTED BY CONSIDERING AN INDIVIDUAL’S
LINKS TO SOCIAL GROUPS.
CONSCIOUS) A
HYPOTHETICAL
UNIFYING MENTAL
FORCE LINKING GROUP
MEMBERS TOGETHER;
THE FUSION OF
INDIVIDUAL
CONSCIOUSNESS OR
MIND INTO A
TRANSCENDENT
CONSCIOUSNESS,
SUGGESTED BY EARLY
PSYCHOLOGIST
GUSTAVE LE BON.
GROUP PROCESSES ARE REAL
AS NOTED EARLIER, A
NORM IS A STANDARD
THAT DESCRIBES WHAT
BEHAVIORS SHOULD AND
SHOULDNOTBEPERFORM
EDINAGROUP.NORMSARE
NOTJUSTINDIVIDUALMEM
BERS’PERSONAL
STANDARDS, HOWEVER,
FOR THEY ARE SHARED
AMONG GROUP
MEMBERS.
GROUPS ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THEIR PARTS
ALLPORT INITIALLY BELIEVED THAT GROUP
BEHAVIOR WAS COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE BY
CONSIDERING THE CHARACTERISTICS AND
QUALITIES OF THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS.
FIELD THEORY IS
PREMISED ON THE
PRINCIPLE OF
INTERACTIONISM,
WHICH ASSUMES
THAT THE BEHAVIOR
OF PEOPLE IN
GROUPS IS
DETERMINED BY THE
INTERACTION OF THE
PERSON AND THE
ENVIRONMENT.
GROUPS ARE LIVING
SYSTEMS
A HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE ON GROUPS PROMPTED
RESEARCHERS TO EXAMINE HOW A GROUP, AS A
UNIT, CHANGES OVER TIME.
BRUCE W. TUCKMAN’S THEORY OF GROUP
DEVELOPMENT
FORMING
STORMING
NORMING
PERFORMING
ADJOURNING
GROUP DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS OF GROWTH AND
CHANGE THAT EMERGE ACROSS THE GROUP’S LIFE
SPAN.
GROUPS ARE INFLUENTIAL
TRIPLETT (1898) VERIFIED THE DISCONTINUITY
BETWEEN PEOPLE’S RESPONSES WHEN THEY ARE
ISOLATED RATHER THAN INTEGRATED, AND THIS
SHIFT HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED TIME AND AGAIN IN
STUDIES OF MOTIVATION, EMOTION, AND
PERFORMANCE.
GROUPS CAN ALSO
CHANGE THEIR
MEMBERS BY
PROMPTING THEM TO
CHANGE THEIR
ATTITUDES AND
VALUES AS THEY
COME TO AGREE WITH
THE OVERALL
CONSENSUS OF THE
GROUP (T. M.
NEWCOMB, 1943).
GROUPS ALSO CHANGE
PEOPLE MORE DRAMATICALLY.
THE EARLIEST GROUP
PSYCHOLOGISTS WERE
STRUCK BY THE APPARENT
MADNESS OF PEOPLE WHEN
IMMERSED IN CROWDS, AND
MANY CONCLUDED THAT THE
BEHAVIOR OF A PERSON IN A
GROUP MAY HAVE NO
CONNECTION TO THAT
PERSON’S BEHAVIOR WHEN
ALONE.
GROUPS SHAPE SOCIETY
AT THE SAME TIME PSYCHOLOGISTS BEGAN
STUDYING HOW INDIVIDUALS REACT IN GROUP
SETTINGS, SOCIOLOGISTS BEGAN STUDYING THE
ROLE THAT GROUPS PLAYED IN MAINTAINING
RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS IN SOCIETY (SHOTOLA,
1992).
ASSUMPTIONS
GROUPS ARE REAL
GROUP PROCESSES ARE REAL
GROUPS ARE MORE THAN THE SUM OF THEIR PARTS
GROUPS ARE LIVING SYSTEMS
GROUPS ARE INFLUENTIAL
GROUPS SHAPES SOCIETY
