ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY

CITY OF ILAGAN, ISABELA GROUP DYNAMICS

PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT SY: 2021-2022

MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO GROUP DYNAMICS

Groups come in all shapes and sizes and their purposes are many and varied,
but their influence is universal. The tendency to join with others in groups is perhaps
the single most important characteristic of humans, and the processes that unfold
within these groups leave an indelible imprint on their members and on society. Yet,
groups remain something of a mystery: unstudied at best, misunderstood at worst.
This investigation into the nature of groups begins by answering two fundamental
questions: What is a group and what are group dynamics? What are groups? What
are the four basic types of groups? What distinguishes one group from another? What
are group dynamics? Why study groups and their dynamics?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the session, the students are expected to:
1. understand group in different perspective,
2. analyze the nature of groups,
3. understand the characteristics of the different types of groups,
4. categorize group according on their characteristics.

INTRODUCTION:

Groups are and always will be essential to human life. Across all cultures and
eras we have lived, worked, thrived, and died in our families, tribes, communes,
communities, and clans. Our ancestors protected themselves from dangers and
disasters by joining together in groups. Early civilizations, the Aztecs, Persians,
Greeks, and Romans organized their societies by forming legions, assemblies,
publics, legislative bodies, and trade associations.

Groups hold the secret to the universe—the human universe, at any rate. The
rare individual—the prisoner in solitary confinement, the recluse, the castaway—is
isolated from all groups, but most of us belong to all manner of groups: from our small,
close-knit groups such as families or very close friends to larger groups of associates
and colleagues at school or where we work, to the very large groups of people with
whom we share an important quality that creates a psychological bond between us all.
Given we spend our entire lives getting into, getting out of, and taking part in groups,
it’s best to not ignore them. Even better, it’s best to understand them: to recognize
their key features, to study the psychological and interpersonal processes that
continually shape and reshape them, and to learn ways to help them function
effectively.

Karla Mikaella M. Gomez, RPsy, RPm

ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY
CITY OF ILAGAN, ISABELA GROUP DYNAMICS
PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT SY: 2021-2022

WHAT ARE GROUPS?

DEFINING GROUPS

GROUP: two or more individuals who are connected by and within social
relationships Two or More Individuals
• Groups come in a staggering assortment of shapes and sizes, from dyads (two
members) and triads (three members) to huge crowds, mobs, and assemblies
(Simmel, 1902). • John James defined a group to be two or more people in “face-
to-face interaction as evidenced by the criteria of gesticulation, laughter, smiles,
talk, play or work”

Who Are Connected

• Definitions of the word group are as varied as groups themselves, but a commonality
shared by many of these definitions is an emphasis on social relations that link
members to one another.
• A family is a group because the members are connected, not just by blood but also
by social and emotional relationships
• Members must be linked by friendships, alliances, responsibilities, and inevitable
antagonisms.

By and Within Social Relations

• The relations that link the members of groups are not of one type.
• In families, for example, the relationships are based on kinship, but in the workplace,
they are based on task-related interdependencies.
• In some groups, members are friends, but in others, the members are linked by
common interests or experiences. Nor are the relationships linking members
equally strong or enduring.
• Some people were liked by all the other group members, but others had only a few
friends in the group.
• No matter what the nature of the relations, a group exists when some type of bond
links the members to one another and to the group itself (Bosse & Coughlan,
2016).

Classifying Groups

No one knows for certain how many groups exist at this moment, but given the
number of people on the planet and their groupish proclivities, 30 billion is a
conservative estimate. Groups are so numerous that the differences among them are
as noteworthy as their similarities.

Karla Mikaella M. Gomez, RPsy, RPm

ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY
CITY OF ILAGAN, ISABELA GROUP DYNAMICS
PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT SY: 2021-2022

Groups profoundly influence the behavior, feelings, and judgments of their

members, for members spend much of their time interacting with one another, usually
in face-to-face settings with many of the other members present. Even when the group
is dispersed, members nonetheless feel they are still “in” the group, and they consider
the group to be a very important part of their lives.

Primary Groups
Y Charles Horton Cooley (1909) labeled the small, intimate clusters of close
associates, such as families, good friends, or cliques of peers, primary groups.
Y These groups profoundly influence the behavior, feelings, and judgments of
their members, for members spend much of their time interacting with one
another, usually in face-to-face settings with many of the other members
present.
Y When the group is dispersed, members nonetheless feel they are still “in” the
group, and they consider the group to be a very important part of their lives.
Y Cooley (1909) considered such groups to be primary because they transform
individuals into social beings.
Y Cooley (1909) considered such groups to be primary because they transform
individuals into social beings. Primary groups protect members from harm, care
for them when they are ill, and provide them with shelter and sustenance.

Social (Secondary) Groups

Y A relatively small number of individuals who interact with one another over an
extended period of time, such as work groups, clubs, and congregations.
Y Association with a wider range of people in less intimate, more public settings,
and social groups emerged to structure interactions.
Y Social groups are larger and more formally organized than primary groups, and
memberships tend to be shorter in duration and less emotionally involving. •
Their boundaries are also more permeable, so members can leave old groups
behind and join new ones, for they do not demand the level of commitment that
primary groups do. • Members of social groups, such as work groups, clubs,
and congregations, interact with one another over an extended period of time.
Such groups are a key source of members’ social capital.

Collectives

Y A relatively large aggregation or group of individuals who display similarities in

actions and outlook.
Y Some groups come into existence when people are drawn together by
something— an event, an activity, or even danger—but then the group
dissolves when the experience ends.

Karla Mikaella M. Gomez, RPsy, RPm

ISABELA STATE UNIVERSITY
CITY OF ILAGAN, ISABELA GROUP DYNAMICS
PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT SY: 2021-2022

Y Any gathering of individuals can be considered a collective, but most theorists

reserve the term for larger, less intricately interconnected associations among
people.
Y A list of examples of collectives would include crowds watching a building burn,
audiences seated in a movie theater, line (queues) of people waiting to
purchase tickets, gatherings of college students protesting a government
policy, and panicked mobs fleeing from danger.
Y The members of collectives are joined by their common interest or shared
actions, but they often owe little allegiance to the group.

Categories

Y A social category is a collection of individuals who are similar to one another in

some way. For example, citizens of Ireland are Irish, Americans whose
ancestors were from Africa are African Americans, and men who are sexually
attracted to other men are gay.
Y If a category has no social implications, then it only describes individuals who
share a feature in common.
Y Henri Tajfel (1974) explained, members of the same social category often share
a common identity with one another.
Y This perception of themselves as members of the same group or social
category, this social identity, is “that part of an individual’s self-concept which
derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups)
together with the emotional significance attached to that membership”.
Y When perceivers decide a person they encounter is one of “those people,” they
will likely rely on any stereotypes they have about the members of that social
category to formulate an impression of the person.
Y Social categories tend to create divisions between people, and those divisions
can result in a sense of “we” and “us” versus they and them.

REFERENCES:

Y http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/hewstonesocialpsychology/chapt
ers/cpt12.pdf
Y D.R. Forsyth, Group Dynamics 7th Edition, 2017

Karla Mikaella M. Gomez, RPsy, RPm