GROUP DYNAMICS
Lecture notes Group Dynamics – block 3 – 2023
Lecture 1 – Introduction
Introduction (not exam info)
It is important to study groups; we are in groups both in social and formal settings. Exclusion and
inclusion in groups, teamwork, and group influence are important aspects to study.
Questions:
How does being included vs. excluded from a group shapes feelings and behaviours in the
group?
How do people influence each other in a group?
Do groups make better or worse decisions than individuals?
How to build a good group?
But isn’t it all common sense? Well, our intuitions can be wrong, inaccurate or incomplete. What are
our intuitions?
After being excluded, some people might fight, flight or freeze.
o Fighting is an antisocial behaviour, becoming less helpful.
o Flight is a prosocial behaviour, becoming more helpful to try to earn approval.
o A third is freeze, withdrawal situation (shutting down completely).
People behave differently when being stressed. One strategy is to stay away from groups,
another is to seek groups. On average, people are more group seeking when in stress because
groups can provide emotional support.
Which group is more productive; strong or weak ties? It depends on the norms. If the norm is
to work well together, strong ties can be helpful because they know each other, can build on
each other and be more efficient. If the norm is to hangout a lot, strong ties can be less
efficient.
Group conflict can improve or diminish the group performance. Research has shown that it
depends on the type of conflict (not the amount).
How can we reduce negative views of outgroup members (outgroup can be by age, sexual
orientation, religion, gender identity, skin colour, political affiliation)?
o Contact theory; exposure to more outgroup members so that they get to know each
other and will know that stereotypes aren’t necessarily true. Providing people with
information could also help.
How would you define a group?
At least two people, who share features or goals, that form norms together and influence each others
thoughts, feelings, or actions (both explicit and implicit).
Formal definition: “Two or more people who are connected and are inter-dependent, in the sense that
their needs and goals cause them to influence each other.” N.B.: all three aspects must be present! It
is important to show the dependency between the groups.
,Examples:
4 people surfing on internet on different computers on different websites at the same place
might be a group, but there is not enough information. If they are working together on a
project, they could be a group.
A football team have common goals and affect each other; they can be called a group.
Three people often going out together form a group (they don’t have to have a goal or task
together).
Varieties of groups:
Primary – small, long-term groups. Even when not together, still form a group
o E.g. families, close friends, combat squads
Social/secondary – small, interacting over long time
o E.g. co-workers, study groups
Collective – large, similarities in actions and outlook. When these people part, they are no
longer a group
o E.g. movie crowd, people in a line
Categories – large, only have common attribute. Usually not seen as groups
o People who live in NL or Tilburg, men/women
Characteristics of groups:
Type of group interaction:
o Task interaction – focused on group’s work / project / plan / goal. Coordination is
needed.
o Relationship interaction – emotional and personal bonds. Sustaining or undermining
actions (social support but also criticism)
The way in which group members are independent / interdependency
o Symmetric with reciprocity (everyone affects the other equally)
o Hierarchical without reciprocity (A influences B, C, and D but not the other way
around; like a manager)
o Hierarchical with reciprocity (A is the boss, but the rest can have opinions
o Sequential without reciprocity (like assembly line job; A influences B, B influences C)
Group unity as measured by:
o Cohesiveness (the extend to which the group is close to each other), as part of
solidarity. Members typically have a purpose for the group (commitment to this
purpose), little intragroup conflict and little turn over. Variance within the group.
o Entitativity; the perceived cohesiveness of a group. This is affected by similarity,
proximity and common fate (how much they look like they’re close). So this is
different for everyone outside a group.
Group origin
o Planned; deliberately formed by the members or an external authority (organized,
task-focused, formal, clear boundaries who belongs).
o Emergent; comes into existence spontaneously (not explicitly organized, unclear
boundaries, unwritten norms).
, E.g. people find themselves in the same location or gradually over time
interact with one another repeatedly.
Group structure
o How is the group organized? Who talks to whom? Who likes/dislikes whom? Who
look for help?
o The roles, norms, and relationships between group members that organize the
groups.
Roles: leader, follower, information seekers, information giver, compromiser
Norms; defined and re-negotiated over time. Conflicts often emerge as
members violate the norms.
Why should we care? Knowing about these and other dimensions allows us to predict outcomes (how
group members feel, how well they work together, what the outcomes are).
MORE IN PAPER, EXAM RELEVANT!!
Example; what are the positive and negative sides of hierarchical groups?
Positive sides
Clearly defining roles in a group
Facilitate coordination and the integration of information
Reduced intra-group conflict
Negative sides
Limit low-ranking members from voicing opinions and concerns
Impairs group communication and performance
Reduced feelings of psychological safety
Groups vs. teams
All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams
Teams are groups that try to reach performance goals through interdependent interactions
Highly interdependent, common goals, work together to achieve these goals
Intensive interactions among individuals and highly meaningful connections between
members
Team usually has a small number of individuals (due to high interdependence)
100 people can be a group, but not likely to be a team
, Lecture 2 – Methods
What’s for today?
Methods:
o What are the different methods?
o Pro and cons
o Examples
Measurements
Methods
How to come up with a research question; read the literature, identify a gap, and fill it OR observe
group interactions in life (media, among your friends, etc.) and pick something that interests you to
study systematically. A good research question adds to the literature, it needs to be related to a
general process, and it must be specific too (very clear what you are studying).
Once you have a research question, you have to think of the aim of the study:
1. Case study
Focus on something very specific that happened in the real world and try to relate it to a
theory. Develop ideas / formulate hypotheses
Pros:
o You can get very specific and detailed
o Natural (no lab or experimenters)
Cons:
o Not all info appears
o Poor external validity (not able to generalise)
o Need to be interpretated (bias, theories, beliefs may affect it)
o Relationships between variables are unclear
2. Correlational study
Look at different variables to see which go together (when one increases, the other in- or
decreases). Explore possible relationships
Pros:
o Can inform about relationship
o Natural (archived data can be used or newly measured)
o Can be relatively easy and provide rich data
Cons:
o Can not inform us about causality (no randomisation of variables)
o Selection bias (we get the data that are available, less control)
o Missing important variables
o Hard to exclude alternative explanations
You can either do;
o Studies; intentionally collect data about various variables and examine correlations
