Studied by 0 people
Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.
group
Two or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships.
Primary groups
Families, close friends, small combat squads (fireteams), etc.
Social groups
Coworkers, teams, crews, study groups, task forces, etc.
Collectives
Audiences, queues, mobs, crowds, social movements, etc
Categories
Men, Asian Americans, New Yorkers, doctors, Britons, etc.
primary group
A small, long-term group characterized by frequent interaction, solidarity, and high levels of interdependence among members that substantially influences the attitudes, values, and social outcomes of its members
social group
A relatively small number of individuals who interact with one another over an extended period of time, such as work groups, clubs, and congregations.
collective
A relatively large aggregation or group of individuals who display similarities in actions and outlook. A street crowd, a line of people (a queue), and a panicked group escaping a fire are examples of collectives, as are more widely dispersed groups (e.g., listeners who respond similarly to a public service announcement).
social category
A perceptual grouping of people who are assumed to be similar to one another in some ways but different in one or more ways, such as all women, the elderly, college students, or all the citizens of a specific country
social capital
The degree to which individuals, groups, or larger aggregates of people are linked in social relationships that yield positive, productive benefits; analogous to economic capital (fiscal prosperity), but determined by extensiveness of social connectedness.
social identity
An individual’s sense of self derived from relationships and memberships in groups; also, those aspects of the self that are assumed to be common to most or all of the members of the same group or social category.
stereotype
A socially shared set of qualities, characteristics, and behavioral expectations ascribed to a particular group or category of people.
composition
The individuals who constitute a group.
open groups
Membership is fluid; members may voluntarily come and go as they please with no consequences (and they often do), or the group may frequently vote members out of the group or invite new ones to join.
closed groups
The membership roster changes more slowly, if at all.
social networks
A set of interpersonally interconnected individuals or groups.
task interaction
The conjointly adjusted actions of group members that pertain to the group’s projects, tasks, and goals.
relationship interaction
Also known as socioemotional interaction The conjointly adjusted actions of group members that relate to or influence the nature and strength of the emotional and interpersonal bonds within the group, including both sustaining (social support, consideration) and undermining actions (criticism, conflict).
interdependence
Mutual dependence, as when one’s outcomes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and experiences are influenced, to some degree, by other people.
group structure
The organization of a group, including the members, their interrelations, and their interactions.
role
A socially shared set of behaviors, characteristics, and responsibilities expected of people who occupy a particular position or type of position within a group; by enacting roles, individuals establish regular patterns of exchange with one another that increase predictability and social coordination.
norm
A consensual and often implicit standard that describes what behaviors should and should not be performed in a given context.
planned groups
Group that is deliberately formed by its members or an external authority for some purpose.
emergent groups
Groups which come into existence spontaneously when individuals join together in the same physical location or gradually over time as individuals find themselves repeatedly interacting with the same subset of individuals.
Concocted groups
are planned by individuals or authorities outside of the group. A team of laborers digging a trench, a flight crew of an airplane, and a military squad would all be concocted groups, since those who created them are not actually members of the group
Founded groups
are planned by one or more individuals who remain within the group. A small Internet start-up company, a study group, a expeditionary team, or grassroots community action group would all be founded groups.
Circumstantial groups
are emergent, unplanned groups that arise when external, situational forces set the stage for people to join together, often temporarily, in a unified group. A group of travelers stranded together when their bus breaks, a mob breaking shop windows and setting parked cars on fire, and patrons at a movie theater would be circumstantial groups.
Self-organizing groups
emerge when interacting individuals gradually align their activities in a cooperative system of interdependence. Parties, gatherings of surfers waiting for waves just offshore, drivers leaving a crowded parking lot through a single exit, and a half dozen adolescents who hang out together are all organized groups, but their organization is generated by implicit adjustments of each member to each other member.
group cohesion
the integrity, solidarity, social integration, unity, and groupiness of a group.
entitativity
The apparent cohesiveness or unity of an assemblage of individuals; the quality of being a single entity rather than a set of independent, unrelated individual
essentialism
The belief that all things, including individuals and groups, have a basic nature that makes them what they are and distinguishes them from other things; a thing’s essence is usually inferred rather than directly observed and is generally assumed to be relatively unchanging
group dynamics
s Interpersonal processes that occur within and between groups; also, the scientific study of those processes.
stages of group development
orientation > conflict > structure > performance > dissolution
fundamental attribution error
The tendency to overestimate the causal influence of dispositional factors while underemphasizing the causal influence of situational factors.
paradigm
Scientists’ shared assumptions about the phenomena they study; also, a set of research procedures.
level of analysis
The focus of study when examining a multilevel process or phenomenon, such as the individual-level or the group-level of analysis.
group fallacy
Explaining social phenomena in terms of the group as a whole instead of basing the explanation on the individual-level processes within the group; ascribing psychological qualities, such as will, intentionality, and mind, to a group rather than to the individuals within the group.
group mind or collective consciousness
A hypothetical unifying mental force linking group members together; the fusion of individual consciousness or mind into a transcendent consciousness.
multilevel perspective
The view that recognizes that a complete explanation of group processes and phenomena requires multiple levels of analysis, including individual (micro), group (meso), and organizational or societal (macro) level.
observation
A measurement method that involves watching and recording the activities of individuals and groups.
overt observation
Openly watching and recording information with no attempt to conceal one’s research purposes.
covert observation
Watching and recording information on the activities of individuals and groups without their knowledge.
participant observation
Watching and recording group activities as a member of the group or participant in the social process.
online group
Two or more individuals who interact with each other solely or primarily through computer-based information technologies (e.g., email, instant messaging, and social networking sites) rather than through face-to-face interactions.
hawthorne effect
A change in behavior that occurs when individuals know they are being observed or studied.
qualitative study
A research procedure that collects and analyzes nonnumeric, unquantified types of data, such as verbal descriptions, text, images, or objects
structured observational methods
Research procedures that create a systematic record of group interaction and activities by classifying (coding) each overt expression or action into a defined category
quantitative study
A research procedure that collects and analyzes numeric data, such as frequencies, proportions, or amounts
interaction process analysis (IPA)
A structured coding system used to measure group activity by classifying each observed behavior into one of 12 categories, such as “shows solidarity” or “asks for orientation”
reliability
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
The degree to which two or more raters agree.
validity
The degree to which a measurement method assesses what it was designed to measure.
self-report measures
Assessment methods, such as questionnaires, tests, or interviews, that ask respondents to describe their feelings, attitudes, or beliefs
sociometry
A method for measuring the relationships among members of a group and summarizing those relationships graphically
sociogram
A graphic representation of the patterns of intermember relations created through sociometry. In most cases, each member of the group is depicted by a symbol, such as a lettered circle or square, and relations among members (e.g., communication links and friendship pairings) are indicated by lines from one member to another
case study
A research technique that draws on multiple sources of information to examine, in depth, the activities and dynamics of a group or groups.
groupthink
A set of negative group-level processes, including illusions of vulnerability, self-censorship, and pressures to conform, that occur when highly cohesive groups seek concurrence rather than objective analysis when making a decision
bona fide groups
Naturally occurring groups, such as audiences, boards of directors, clubs, or teams, compared to ad hoc groups created for research purposes.
correlational study
A research design in which the investigator measures (but does not manipulate) at least two variables and then uses statistical procedures to examine the strength and direction of the relationship between these variables.
experiment
A research design in which the investigator (1) manipulates at least one variable by randomly assigning participants to two or more different conditions, (2) measures at least one other variable, and (3) controls the influence of other variables on the outcome.
independent variable
Something that the researcher changes in an experimental study while holding other variables constant and measuring the dependent variable; the causal mechanism in a cause–effect relationship.
dependent variable
The resultant outcomes measured by the researcher; the effect variable in a cause–effect relationship.
