Group a collection of persons who are perceived to be bonded together in a coherent unit to Chapter 8 Groups some degree What Makes a Group a Group People at a Bus Stop vs Sports Team Individuals are important to one another Members are similar to each other in someway Dependent on each other to be successful Share a common identity Possess structure leader people below you Groups are quite small o Common Group Size 2 6 people Everyone is very similar Groups work to maintain similarity Makes sure groups all act the same way Benefits of Membership Self Knowledge Self Enhancement o Some groups make individuals look better o High Status Group Ex Psi Chi Self Transcendence o Changing of the world for social justice o Group status does not matter Ex Save the planet Resources Fulfills Needs o Group members can offer their time money efforts o To be accepted by other people o Need for control o Need for affection open and positive relationships with other people Costs of Membership Restricts personal freedom Demands on time energy and resources Studying Small Groups Statistical Problems o Interdependence Running Group Experiments o People do not show up for the experiment o Longitudinal problems o Very costly Measuring Behavior o Video cameras but have to code everything o Surveys are not always direct College Samples o Young adults have unique traits more easily persuasion Usually led by study norms o Are college students different among average individuals Group Composition Tokenism Diversity and Faultlines o Faultline is when differences in the group split the group in the same way Ex Group of 10 people 5 old men 5 young women same difference same people on either side of the line Popular to study because the more faultlines a group has the easier it is to break the group apart Socialization a process of mutual adjustment that produces changes over time in the relationship between a person and a group Moreland and Levine o Membership Phases Composition Group Diversity Heterogeneity is best when o Only one member must find the right answer o New Solutions o Flexibility o Adaptability o Creativity Will be able to adjust to changes Composition Group Socialization Levine Moreland Investigation Phase Prospective Member o Investigation of group o Group makes itself look good o Increase Commitment o MEMBER RECONNAISSANCE o GROUP DOES RECRUITMENT Socialization Phase New Member o Accommodates for the individual new member assimilates o Increases commitment o MEMBER ASSIMILATES o GROUP ACCOMODATES Maintenance Phase Full Member o Things go well o Can last indefinitely o Engaging in the activity of role negotiation o BOTH GROUP AND MEMBER ENGAGE IN NEGOTIATION Resocialization Phase Marginal Member o Role negotiation goes poorly o Returns back to socialization o Tries to adjust behavior o MEMBER ASSIMILATES o GROUP ACCOMODATES Remembrance Phase Ex Member o Resocialization Fails o Commitment fails o Both sides fondly remembers either good or bad o Commitment stabilizes at a very low level o BOTH SIDES FONDLY REMEMBERS Group Structure Roles set of behaviors that individuals occupying specific positions within a group are expected to perform hypothesis o 1973 Zimbardo s Stanford Prison Experiment did not have a clear Mock prison under Stanford s psychology department Determined randomly if they should be a guard or prison Guards were given mirrored sunglasses that increased deidentification Went to prisoner s house arrested and hand cuffed Stripped and deloused given a smock with an ID number nylon cap Creating a feeling of being a prisoner Breaks solidarity psychological effects Fell into the role of being prison manager Norms rules within a group Cohesion all forces that cause group members to remain in the group Entitativity extent to which a group is perceived as being coherent entity o Everyone s moving in the same direction Status keeps group organized status hierarchy occurs immediately Structure Factors Affecting Cohesiveness Effort required to gain entry o Rushing for fraternity or sorority Creates dissonance I must really like this group Existence of external threats Size o Smaller groups are more cohesive Knows everyone can talk to everyone Performance o Failure decreases cohesion o Cohesion increases chance of success Group Dynamics Minority Influence o Moscovici o Public vs Private Acceptance Public follows majority because want to be accepted Group follows what majority thinks Sometimes minority wins o Factors Increasing Effectiveness Minorities Consistency repetition of position Implies confidence Flexibility willing to work with the rest of the group Not stubborn Leadership o Extraverted intelligent driven by desire for power charismatic socially skilled open to new experiences confident All the above are actually weakly correlated Except for intelligence because it means that they are an expert in the subject at hand Age mature features height less aware of others Assume leader is solely responsible for what happens o Transactional Leaders leaders who set clear short term goals and reward o Transformational Leaders leaders who inspire followers to focus on people who meet them common long term goals Best leaders are both transactional and transformational leaders o Task Oriented Leader leader who is concerned more with getting the job done Best with a little bit of control o Relationship Oriented Leader leader who is concerned primarily with workers feelings and relationships Best with a lot of control o Democratic involve member in decision Most productive o Autocratic leader makes decision alone Under time pressure this form is the best Productive when leader is watching o Laissez Faire leader delegates jobs and then leaves Does not work unless group members know how to do their job Worker has not motivation to do work o Gender and Leadership Women expected to be communal warm kind Men expected to be agentic assertive controlling dominant Double bind for women Creates the problem for women because hard for women to be Negotiation both o Social Dilemmas situations in which each person can increase his or her individual gains by acting in one way but if all or most persons do the same thing the outcomes experienced by all are reduced Public Goods Dilemma individuals must contribute to a common pool in order to maintain the public good If no one contributes it collapses Public Television many people watch it but few contribute to it overused Best Scenario save your money just watch