Untitled

• The scientific study of groups is presented by Ms. Aleah Faye L. Cuenca, RPm, at [email protected].

Level of Analysis

• Level of analysis is the focus of study when examining a multilevel process or phenomenon.
• Examples of levels of analysis are individual-level or the group-level of analysis.

Group-Level Analysis

• Group-level analysis recognizes humans as the constitutive elements of groups.
• Groups and their processes have a profound impact on their members in group-level analysis.

Individual-Level Analysis

• Individual-level analysis focuses on the person in the group.
• Researchers sought to explain the behavior of each group member using individual-level analysis.
• Researchers ultimately wanted to know if psychological processes dictate social behavior in individual-level analysis.

Sociologist Émile Durkheim (1897/1966)

• Émile Durkheim traced suicide back to group-level processes.
• Durkheim believed that widely shared beliefs, or collective representations, are the cornerstone of society.
• He wrote: "Emotions and tendencies are generated not by certain states of individual consciousness, but by the conditions under which the social body as a whole exists."

Psychologist Floyd Allport (1924)

• Allport believed that the actions of all are merely the sum of individual actions.
• A full understanding of behavior in groups can be achieved by studying the psychology of individual group members.
• Allport considered groups not to be real entities and warned of the group fallacy.

Group Fallacy

• The group fallacy explains social phenomena in terms of the group as a whole.
• It ascribes psychological qualities, like will and intentionality, to a group rather than individuals within the group.

Group Mind (or Collective Consciousness)

• Group mind is a hypothetical unifying mental force linking group members.
• Group mind describes the fusion of individual consciousness into a transcendent consciousness.

Lewin and Interactionism

• Lewin (1951) believed a group is a unified system with emergent properties not understood by piecemeal examination.
• Lewin adopted the Gestalt dictum: "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."

Field Theory

• Field theory is premised on the principle of interactionism.
• It assumes that people's actions, processes, and responses in groups are determined by the interaction of the person and the environment.

Law of interactionism

• The law of interactionism states that behavior (B) is a function of personal qualities (P), the social environment (E), & the interaction of these personal qualities with factors in the social environment. B= f(P,E)

Multilevel Perspective

• Multilevel perspective recognizes that explaining group processes needs multiple level analysis.
• It includes individual (micro), group (meso), and organizational or societal (macro) levels.

Measurement

• Measurement is a method that involves watching and recording the activities of individuals and groups.

Observation

• Overt observation involves openly watching and recording information without attempting to conceal research purposes.
• Covert observation involves watching and recording information on activities of individuals and groups without their knowledge.
• Participant observation involves watching and recording group activities as a member of the group or participant in the social process.

Hawthorne effect

• The Hawthorne effect is a change in behavior that occurs when individuals know they are being studied.

Qualitative Study

• A qualitative study is a research procedure that collects and analyzes verbal descriptions, text, images, or objects

Structured Observational Methods

• Structured observational methods are research procedures that create a systematic record of group interaction and activities.
• They classify each overt expression or action into a defined category, which is "coding".

Quantitative Study

• Quantitative study is a research procedure that collects and analyzes numeric data, such as frequencies, proportions, or amounts.

Interaction Process Analysis (IPA)

• IPA is a structured coding system used to measure group activity.
• It classifies each observed behavior into one of 12 categories.
• Categories include "shows solidarity" or "asks for orientation."
• Robert F. Bales developed IPA.

Systematic Multiple Level Observation of Groups (SYMLOG)

• SYMLOG is a theoretical and structured coding system for recording group activities and members' behavioral orientation.
• Robert F. Bales developed SYMLOG.

SYMLOG Dimensions

• Dominance vs. Submissiveness (Up vs. Down) measures assertiveness or passivity in interactions.
• Friendliness vs. Unfriendliness (Positive vs. Negative) assesses how supportive or hostile members are.
• Task-Orientation vs. Emotional-Expressiveness differentiates between pragmatic, goal-directed and relationship-focused behaviors.

Reliability

• Reliability in research pertains to the degree to which a measurement technique consistently yields the same conclusion at different times.
• For measurement techniques with two or more components, reliability is also the degree to which these components yield similar conclusions.

Interrater Reliability

• Interrater reliability is the degree to which two or more raters agree.

Validity

• Validity Is the degree to which a measurement method assesses what it was designed to measure.

Self-report measures

• Self-report measures are assessment methods like questionnaires, tests, or interviews that ask respondents to describe their feelings, attitudes, or beliefs.

Sociometry

• Sociometry is a method for measuring relationships among group members and summarizing them graphically.
• Jacob Moreno developed this method.

Sociogram

• A sociogram is a graphic representation of intermember relations created by sociometry.
• Each member is depicted by a symbol (lettered circle/square).
• Relations (communication links/friendship pairings) are indicated by lines from one to another.

Social Network Analysis (SNA)

• SNA studies the relational structure of groups/networks mathematically and graphically.
• SNA Uses info about relationship (ties/edges) linking members (nodes/vertexes).
• SNA Yields member-level indexes (centrality/betweenness), group-level indexes (density/cohesiveness), and a graphic representation of the unit.

Examples of Group Roles from Sociometry

• Neglected (isolate): Infrequently chosen member.
• Rejected (unpopular): Disliked by many members.
• Popular (star): Most chosen, well-liked.
• Controversial: Liked by many but also disliked by many.
• Sociable (amiable): Selects many others as friends.
• Unsociable (negative): Selects few others as friends.
• Cliques: Members of a subcluster within the group.
• Couples (pairs): Linked by reciprocal bonds.
• Gatekeeper: Controls information flow in the group's social network.

Research Methods in Group Dynamics

• Topics of research methods in group dynamics are examined

Case Study

• Case study is a research technique that draws on multiple sources of information to examine the activities and dynamics of a group.

Groupthink

• Groupthink is a set of negative group-level processes where cohesive groups seek concurrence rather than objective analysis during decision-making.
• Groupthink Involves illusions of invulnerability, self-censorship, and pressures to conform (Irving Janis).

Bona Fide Groups

• Bona fide groups are naturally occurring groups like audiences, boards, clubs, or teams.
• This is as compared to ad hoc groups created for research purposes.

Correlational study

• A correlational study measures (but does not manipulate) at least two variables.
• It uses statistical procedures in order to examine the strength and direction of the relationship between the variables.

Reference group

• Reference groups are groups or collectives used by individuals to select and appraise their abilities, attitudes, or beliefs.
• Included are groups with which they identify, admire, or noninteracting categories of people.

Correlation Coefficient

• Correlation coefficient measures the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables.
• It usually symbolized by "r;" the values range from -1 to +1.

Experiment

• An experiment manipulates at least one variable, assigns participants randomly, measures at least one other variable, and controls the influence of other variables on the outcome.

Independent Variable

• Independent variable is what a researcher changes in an experimental study while holding other variables constant.
• The independent variable shows the causal mechanism in a cause-effect relationship.

Dependent variable

• Dependent variable are resultant outcomes measured by the researcher, or the effect variable in a cause-effect relationship.

Theoretical Perspectives

• Topics of theoretical perspectives are examined.

Motivational Perspectives

• Motivations are psychological mechanisms that give purpose and direction to behavior.
• Emotions are a subjective state of positive or negative affect, often with arousal or activation.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Model of human motivation often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.
• Levels include physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Behavioral Perspectives

• Behaviorism explains organism's acquisition of new responses to stimuli through conditioning (learning).

Social Exchange Theory

• Social Exchange Theory postulates that individuals seek rewarding relationships that exact few costs.

Systems Perspectives

• Systems theory assumes complex phenomena are the result of constant adjustments among the interdependent parts of the whole.
• Applied to groups, systems theory treats groups as open systems that maintain dynamic equilibrium through interrelated adjustments.

Input-Process-Output (I-P-O) Model

• Input-Process-Output Model is a conceptual analysis that assumes raw input is transformed via internal processes to generate results
• An I-P-O model of group performance presumes group-level processes mediate the relationship between input variables and resulting outcomes.

Cognitive Perspectives

• Cognitive processes describe mental processes that acquire, organize, and integrate information.
• These processes including memory systems that store data and the psychological mechanisms that process information.

Self-Reference Effect

• The self-reference effect describes the tendency to have better memories for actions and events that are personally connected.

Group-Reference Effect

• Group-reference effect says group members tend to have better memories for actions and events related to their group.

Biological Perspectives

• Biological perspectives, including Blascovich's (2014) Biopsychosocial (BPS) Model of Challenge and Threat, study how physiological mechanisms influence group behavior by shaping individuals' responses to social and environmental stressors.
• The BPS model helps explain how people physiologically and psychologically adapt to different social situations, particularly in group dynamics, leadership, and cooperation.

Hormonal and Neurological Influences

• Cortisol (stress hormone): Elevated in threat states, leading to avoidance behaviors/interpersonal tension.
• Testosterone and dominance behaviors: Challenge states link to leadership emergence, while threat states lead to passivity/aggression.
• Oxytocin and social bonding: Challenge states foster trust/teamwork, whereas threat states can reduce connectedness.