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Group Dynamics

The document discusses the psychology of group dynamics, outlining reasons for group formation including sociobiological, cognitive, and utilitarian factors. It highlights specific motivations for joining groups such as security, status, self-esteem, and goal achievement, as well as the stages of group membership and the importance of cohesion. Additionally, it references Tuckman's theory of group development and the impact of group membership on individual behavior.

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Sparsh Goyal
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13 views10 pages

Group Dynamics

The document discusses the psychology of group dynamics, outlining reasons for group formation including sociobiological, cognitive, and utilitarian factors. It highlights specific motivations for joining groups such as security, status, self-esteem, and goal achievement, as well as the stages of group membership and the importance of cohesion. Additionally, it references Tuckman's theory of group development and the impact of group membership on individual behavior.

Uploaded by

Sparsh Goyal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Group Dynamics

Since humans live and work in groups, it is important to understand the


basic elements of the psychology of group dynamics.
General Reasons For Group
Formation
The reasons why people form or join groups are
• sociobiological (evolutionarily built in),
• cognitive (understanding our world) and
• utilitarian (gaining benefits).
Specific reasons why people join
groups
• Security: Joining groups reduces insecurity of “standing alone.”
• Status: Inclusion in a group viewed important by others provides
recognition and status to its members.
• Self-esteem: Groups can provide people with feelings of self worth.
• Affiliation: Groups fulfill social needs through regular interaction.
• Power: Group actions enable in achieving what one can’t individually.
• Goal Achievement: Pooling talent, knowledge and power is needed to
accomplish particular tasks.
• Different types of groups, such as task groups, intimacy groups, social
categories and loose associations, differ on a number of important
dimensions such as group entitativity, importance and shared
objectives.
• Group members move through the different stages of group
membership (prospective member, new member, full member,
marginal member and ex-member) separated from each other by role
transitions, and these different stages are characterized by different
levels of commitment.
• The role transition of entry can be marked by a harsh transition ritual.

• A classic explanation for these rituals is given by dissonance theory,


which argues that such rituals increase commitment to the group.
• Groups develop over time, because the challenges they face and the
goals they have change.
• Tuckman’s classic theory distinguishes five stages: forming, storming,
norming, performing and adjourning.
• Groups develop shared cognitions, such as transactive memory
systems (i.e., knowing who knows what) and shared emotions.

• Cohesion can be based on attractiveness of the group (interpersonal


cohesion) or on attractiveness of the group task (task cohesion). In
general, cohesion motivates group members to exert effort for causes
that are important to the group.
• The presence of other groups can make group membership salient.

• As a consequence, group members will be more strongly influenced


by their group membership

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