Stella Barenholz 2018-2019
GROUP DYNAMICS
LECTURES 2018-2019
CONTENT
Content........................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Lecture 1: Introduction............................................................................................................................................................2
Lecture 2: Methods.................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Lecture 3: Inclusion and ostracism.....................................................................................................................................7
Lecture 4: Motivation.............................................................................................................................................................10
Lecture 5: Affiliation...............................................................................................................................................................14
Lecture 6: Leadership............................................................................................................................................................18
Lecture 7: Influence................................................................................................................................................................ 21
Lecture 8: Conflict...................................................................................................................................................................24
Lecture 9: Decision making.................................................................................................................................................28
Lecture 10: Intergroup relations.......................................................................................................................................30
Lecture 11: Teams...................................................................................................................................................................37
Practice exam............................................................................................................................................................................ 39
1
,Stella Barenholz 2018-2019
LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION
In this course, we will look at questions like ‘Do people feel accepted and included in groups?
How do we influence each other? Do groups make good decisions? How to identify team players?
How to build an effective team? Who makes an effective leader? How do we interact with
outgroups?’. First, let’s look at some true/false statements about groups.
- People become more group-seeking when they are under stress. This is because groups
provide more emotional support than when alone. It does depend on the personality of
the person.
- A group of factory workers with strong ties are more productive than a group with weak
ties: People communicate better. But, there is also a moderator, namely the norm of the
group: is this norm focuses on productivity, they will perform better.
- People perform better in simple and familiar tasks when other are watching them. This
is true, but only when tasks are simple. When they are more complicated, the effect
reverses. This is called social facilitation.
- Within-group conflict typically improves the performance of a group. Conflicts in group
have different types like personal or situational problems. This type of conflict usually
reduces the performance. When the problem is about the task, this increases motivation
to perform well, so it increases performance.
- Emotional stability is an important personality factor in predicting who will be a good
team player: This actually doesn’t seem to matter on average. Sometimes these high
stable members suck when in a team, but they can also be very nice to others and
monitor their behavior better. The unstable people are always really worried, so tend to
drive the group to get work done. Other than this, all the four others of OCEAN do matter.
- Negative views of outgroup members will fade if people interact more regularly with
those outgroup members. This is true, think about the contact hypothesis. But, it is not
always met because there are four conditions that have to be fulfilled.
W HAT IS A GROUP ?
The definition of a group: Two or more people who are connected and are interdependent in the
sense that their needs and goals cause them to influence each other. So there are three
important characteristics about a group:
- At least two people
- Connection between the people
- Connection is socially meaningful (interdependence or shared experience)
Considered as a group Not considered as a group
11 people playing soccer. They are Two people on the computer. They are
considered as a group, they have all the connected but we don’t know if they are
characteristics that groups have. interdependent or actually influence each
other.
3 people going out together. They are a 610 inhabitants of Tilburg who like playing
group, just not in a work environment. They poker. They aren’t considered a group,
are not producing anything but are because they don’t influence each other
influencing each other. themselves. Just sharing a common
characteristic isn’t enough to be labeled as a
group.
Group dynamics looks at the influential actions, processes, and changes that occur within and
between groups.
H OW CAN YOU DESCRIBE A GROUP ?
There are different ways to describe a group. The first is the type of interaction. There are two
sorts of interactions in a group. The first is relationship, which is focused on emotional and
2
,Stella Barenholz 2018-2019
personal bonds. Second is task, namely generating ideas, choosing solution, negotiating solution,
and executing the task.
A second way of distinguishing groups is looking how members are interdependent. There
are a lot of possibilities here:
1. Unilateral: There is one leader with multiple followers
2. Unequal reciprocal: There is one leader and multiple followers who give each other
feedback
3. Sequential: There is no leader and everybody is equal, feedback goes from first to last
person
4. Mutual reciprocal: There is no leader and everybody is equal, everybody can give
everybody feedback
5. Unequal sequential: There is a leader, middle people, and lowest people
6. Unequal sequential reciprocal: There is a leader, middle people, and lowest people;
feedback goes in every direction
Third we can look at the structure of the group. An important concept here are the group
roles: A coherent set of behaviors expected of people who occupy specific positions. There are
also norms: Consensual standards that describe what behaviors should (or should not) be
performed in certain contexts.
A fourth way is looking at the unity of the group. Again there are some important concepts:
- Cohesiveness: qualities of a group that binds members together.
- Entitativity: extent to which assemblage of individuals are perceived to be a group.
This is all influenced by common fate, similarity, and proximity cues. Also important is the
perception of the group members. This is connected to the Thomas Theorem: if individuals think
an aggregate is a true group then the group will have important interpersonal consequences for
those in the group and for those observing it.
The concept of essentialism says that groups that are high in entitativity are assumed to
have a basic essence that defines the nature of their members. Eastern cultures tend to take
more notice of groups, than Western cultures.
W HAT TYPES OF GROUPS EXIST ?
We can first ask ourselves how a group originated. It can either be a planned group with a clear
goal, thus very organized, and clear boundaries (like a football team). Or it can be an emergent
group, which is more spontaneous, has unwritten norms, and unclear boundaries (like a snow
fight in the park).
We can also make more distinctions, like the difference between a primary (small, long-term)
and secondary or social (small group interacting over extended period of time) group. There are
also collectives (large group displaying similarities in actions and outlook) and categories (large
group sharing common attribute or otherwise related, like social identity).
Primary groups could be close friends and families. Secondary groups could be a team. A
collective could be a waiting line or bystanders; a category could be being a woman or being
Dutch.
3
, Stella Barenholz 2018-2019
LECTURE 2: METHODS
M ETHODS
There are different approaches to study group dynamics and other subjects.
- Bottom-up approach: from observation or data available
- Top-down approach: reading papers, textbooks, literature
Usually the two are combined, but observing is mostly the better approach. It is more interesting
because you only observe your own interests.
A good research question has to add to the literature. Because loads of research already has
been done, it has to give a new insight. It also has to ask something about a general process or
theory. Third, it has to be specific: The question has constructs that we know how to exactly
measure them. If we cannot analyze the concepts we are studying, we don’t know any answers.
The next thing we want to know is how to test it. First is a case study, a detailed description
about a specific case, mostly some remarkable subject.
- Positive: very detailed and natural
- Negative: not all the information, external validity is low, interpretation can be different,
and relationships can sometimes only be studied with certain limits
Second there is a correlational study. It tells us something about a relationship, so how two
constructs are associated. It is also natural because we are looking at real behavior. But, the
known limitation is that correlational studies don’t indicate any causality.
To test causality we need an experimental study where we can manipulate variables. They are
high in internal validity because people are randomly assigned and variables are controlled and
manipulated. Sometimes, experiments are not feasible because some variables can’t be
manipulated, or the experiment isn’t ethical enough to use manipulation. Furthermore, because
experiments are often done in a lab with a certain limited group of subjects, they lack external
validity.
Each method has pros and cons, but a good study is to combine them. With a case study, it is
very useful to develop ideas and formulate hypotheses. A correlational study shows possible
relationship; finally we can test causality with an experiment.
M EASUREMENTS
First there is observation. Researchers have to think about what they want to observe, where,
and when. They also have to take into account naïve observers and the accuracy of the observer.
There are different types of observation:
- Covert: The researcher can observe without participants knowing, so there is no
observer influence. But here there are always some ethical questions. There is also
limited information.
- Overt: The participants know the researcher is watching them. This can yield more
information, but there is always the Hawthorne effect.
- Participant: The researcher poses themselves as one of the participants, so they can
gather hidden information. But, there is always the Hawthorne effect.
Processes in the group can be measured with the Interaction Process Analysis. This looks at
the social-emotional (relationship) interactions, and categorized these as positive or negative. It
also looks at the task interactions, namely questions and (attempted) answers. Robert Bales did
a lot of research on this. He distinguished the social-emotional side into positive and negative
parts.
If this interaction is positive, there will be solidarity, tension release and agreement. But if it is
negative, there is antagonism, tension, and disagreement. The first from both sides contribute to
an integration of views and attitudes towards each other. The second is about tension
4
