Lecture 6 - Groups Flashcards
Define groups
“A group is 2 or more individuals in face-to-face interaction, each aware of his/her membership in the group, each aware of the others who belong to the group, and each aware of their positive interdependence as they strive to achieve mutual goals”
What are the 4 group classifications identified by Hamilton & Sherman (1996)?
- Intimacy
- Task
- Social categories
- Loose associations
What are the group properties identified by Johnson & Johnson (1987)?
- A collection of individuals who are interacting with one another
- A social unit of 2 or more individuals who perceive themselves as belonging to a group
- A collection of individuals who are interdependent
- A collection of individuals who join together to achieve a goal
- A collection of individuals who are trying to satisfy a need through their joint association
- A collection of individuals whose interactions are structured by a set of roles and norms.
- A collection of individuals who influence each other
Who suggested that people fear public speaking more than heights, darkness and death?
Borden (1980) people fear public speaking more than heights, darkness and death
Describe Zajonc’s drive theory of social facilitation
The presence of others automatically produces arousal, which ‘drives’ dominant responses. Performance is improved by a ‘correct’ dominant response, but is impaired by an ‘incorrect’ dominant response
Explain Markus (1978) dressing experiment
Ppts dressed in their own clothing (easy task) or in unfamiliar clothing (difficult task). They dressed either alone, with an incidental audience present or with an attentive audience present. Evaluation apprehension occurred on the easy task: only the attentive audience reduced the time taken to dress. There was a drive effect on the difficult task: both incidental and attentive audiences increased the time taken to dress
Detail social facilitation revisited
- Meta analysis of 241 studies involving 24,000 participants found that mere presence accounts for 0.3-3% of variance in behaviour (Bond & Titus, 1983)
- Performance of male skateboarders was very significantly affected by the presence of an attractive woman – performance was improved but there was also many more crashes (Ronay & Von Hipple, 2010)
- Eating behaviour is influenced by the relationship with those present, e.g., friends, family members, strangers (Herman, et al. 2003)
- The presence of a ‘virtual human’ has exactly the same effect as the presence of a real human (Park & Catrambone, 2012)
Describe Festinger et al., 1950 field of forces
They believed that a field of forces, based on attraction and goal mediation, acts on individual group members to render the group more or less cohesive, and that cohesiveness influences membership continuity and adherence to group norms
Describe group cohesion
A dynamic process reflected in the tendency for a group to stick together and remain united in the pursuit of its instrumental objectives and/or the satisfaction of member affective needs”
What is the formula for Steiner’s 1972 group effectiveness framework?
actual productivity = potential productivity - group process losses
What is the taxonomy of groups?
- Is the task divisible or unitary?
- Is it a maximising or optimising task?
- How are individual inputs related to the group’s product?
- Additive – sum of individual inputs
- Compensatory – average of individual inputs
- Disjunctive – select one individual input
- Conjunctive – group product = worst individual input
- Discretionary – group is free to decide
What are the stages of the linear perspective?
forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning
Detail the forming stage of the learning perspective?
This is where people get to know each other, and the task at hand. What are everyone’s strengths, weaknesses? When can they be relied upon and when not? What quirks do our fellow team members have? What are we working towards and why?
At this stage people avoid conflict and “play nice” with each other because they want to be accepted into the group. The group is learning about the objectives and goals - getting a feel for the work that must be done together. People tend to focus on practical details - who, what, when and where and work reasonably independently at this stage - while they learn where they and everyone else fits into the team.
Detail the storming stage of the learning perspective?
As people begin to feel safer, they will push the boundaries set up by the team in the forming stage - and conflicts may begin to erupt. Clashes occur due to different personalities and differences in working styles - the ways things get done. Resentments and irritations that were buried in the last stage erupt and negatively effect the team’s performance.
The team must come together to decide how to move forwards and solve the inevitable challenges and misunderstandings that come out as the task progresses. People are competing, but beginning to open up to each other too. As they do this, the team begins to establish how they will work together going forwards.
Detail the norming stage of the learning perspective?
Norming is where the plan comes together. During this stage the team agrees the plan, timelines and who should contribute what to the plan according to their skills. Some team members may need to let go of ‘their’ ideas and make sacrifices for the greater good of the team. Also, team members begin to clearly see others’ strengths and accept their weaknesses.
The team will also be developing trust - helping each other and asking for help, and many teams are socialising with each other by this stage. Storming can still occur - especially when there is change or stress on the team, but in general the team is beginning to work effectively.
