Group Dynamics Notes

LESSON 1: GROUP DYNAMICS

  • Introduction to Group Dynamics
    • The influential actions, processes, and changes that occur within groups and between groups; the scientific study of those processes.
    • Consists of all the elements basic to the unfolding of a group from the time it begins to its termination.
    • This includes dynamics such as:
      • The norms that govern a group,
      • The level of cohesion in the group
      • How trust is generated
      • How resistance is manifested
      • How conflict emerges and is dealt with
      • Forces that bring about healing, intermittent reactions
      • The various stages in the group’s development
    • In essence, group process relates to “how things are happening in the group.”
  • Why Study Groups
    1. Understanding people
      • Why they think, feel, and act the way they do requires understanding groups as human behavior is so often group behavior that people must be studied in context embedded in their families, friendship cliques, work groups, and so on.
      • The study of larger social systems including organizations, communities, and societies requires scrutinizing the groups that sustain them.
    2. On a practical level, much of the world’s work is done by groups
      • Efficiency, achievement, progress— success itself— depends on understanding the strengths and weaknesses of groups.
      • Productivity in the workplace, problem solving in boardrooms, learning in classrooms, and even therapeutic change – depend on group-level processes.
      • Groups hold the key to solving such societal problems as racism, sexism, and international conflicts.
    3. For personal reasons, we will spend our entire lives in groups, getting out of groups, leading groups, and changing groups.
      • Through group membership, one defines and confirms his/her values and beliefs, and refines one’s identity
      • Through groups, one learns about relationships with others, the types of impressions made on them and the ways in which one can relate with others more effectively
  • Defining Groups: A Sampling of Definition of the Word Group
    • Central Feature: Categorization
      • Definition: Two or more individuals… who perceive themselves to be members of the same social category (Turner, 1982)
    • Central Feature: Communication
      • Definition: Three or more people.. who (a) think of themselves as group, (b) are interdependent (with regard to shared goals or behaviors that affect one another) (c) communicate with one another (via face to face or technological means (Freyand Konieczka, 2010)
    • Central Feature: Face-to-Face
      • Definition: Any number of persons engaged in interactions with one another in a single face-to-face meeting or series of meetings (Bales, 1950)
    • Central Feature: Influence
      • Definition: Two or more persons who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other person (Shaw, 1981)
    • Central Feature: Interaction
      • Definition: Two or more interdependent individuals who influence one another through social interaction (APA Dictionary of Psych, 2007)
    • Central Feature: Interdependence
      • Definition: A dynamic whole based on interdependence rather than similarity (Lewin, 1948)
    • Central Feature: Interrelations
      • Definition: An aggregation of two or more people who are to some degree in dynamic interrelation with one another (McGrath, 1984)
    • Central Feature: Need Satisfaction
      • Definition: A collection of organisms in which existence of all is necessary to the satisfaction of certain individual needs in each (Cattell, 1951)
    • Central Feature: Psychological Significance
      • Definition: A psychological group is any number of people who interact with each other, are psychologically aware of each other, and perceive themselves to be in a group (Pennington, 2002)
    • Central Feature: Relations
      • Definition: Individuals who stand in certain relations to each other, for example as sharing a common purpose or having a common intentionality, or acting together, or at least having a common interest (Gould, 119)
    • Central Feature: Shared Identity
      • Definition: Two or more people possessing a common social identification and whose a group is recognized by a third party (R. Brown, 2000)
    • Central Feature: Shared Tasks and Goals
      • Definition: Three or more people who work together interdependently on an agreed-upon activity or goal (Keyton, 2002)
    • Central Feature: Size
      • Definition: Two or more people (Williams, 2010)
    • Central Feature: Systems
      • Definition: An intact social system, complete with boundaries, interdependence for some shared purpose, and differentiated roles (Hackman and Katz, 2010)
  • A group, then, is two or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships.
  • Two or More Individuals
    • 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 (from his study of pedestrians, people shopping, children on playgrounds, public gatherings at sports events and festivals, and entering movie theaters
    • Suggested that groups tend to gravitate to the smallest size, two)
  • Unique Characteristics
    1. The dyad is so small that it ceases to exist when one member leaves and it can never be broken down into subgroups
    2. Members of a dyad are sometimes linked by a unique and powerful type of relationship – love – that makes their dynamics so intense that they belong in a category all their own.
    3. Larger groups are rarely connected directly to all other members; subgroups are more likely to form, and one or more leaders may be needed to organize and guide the group
  • Who Are Connected
    • Members are connected to each other like a series of networked computers. Also, social ties but not of one type.
      • Families: based on kinship
      • Workplace: based on task-related interdependencies
      • Friends: some members may be liked by all the group members but these members may like only a subset of the groups in return; (the feeling is not mutual)
    • No matter what the nature of the relations, a group exists when individuals are connected to one another by some type of social tie
    • The maximum number of ties within a group in which everyone is linked to everyone else is given by the equation n(n−1)/2n (n-1)/2.
    • 10 ties for a 5-person group and 45 ties to a 10-person group.
  • By and Within Social Relationships
    • Social relationships lead to interdependence – influence one’s thoughts, actions, emotions, and outcomes.
    • This interdependence is not caused by some impersonal factors such as proximity or common origin but by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings – membership.
    • As friends are joined in friendships, or all the senior members of a law firm form a partnership, people in group are said to be linked by their:
      • Membership
        • the state of belonging to, or being included in, a social group; or the collective body of members of a group.
      • Social network
        • a set of interpersonally interconnected individuals or groups.
        • To become part of a social network, an individual need only establish a relationship of some sort with a person who is already part of a network.
        • A and B are already linked. C can join their network by establishing a relationship either with A or B

Describing Groups

  1. Interaction
    • “It takes two to tango”
    • Talking over issues; getting into arguments; and making decisions; upsetting each other; giving each other help and support; working together to accomplish difficult tasks; and at times taking advantage of each other’s weaknesses
      • Two bases/types of group interaction (Robert Freed Bales):
        • Task interaction includes all group behavior that is focused principally on the group’s work, projects, plans, and goals.
        • Relationship Interaction 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 (criticisms, conflict)
  2. Goals
    • Groups are sources of heightened motivation, for they increase members’ commitment to their own personal goals and to the goals that the group has set for itself.
    • In general, the most effective groups are the ones that are most conscientious when examining their purposes and procedures (Katzenbach & Smith, 2001).
    • Four types of group goals and group tasks
      • Generating
        • Concocting strategies, producing new ideas, developing plans, creating novel solutions
        • Coming up with fund-raising ideas, a task force identifying new markets for a product, military commanders discussing ways to reduce the risk of casualties
      • Choosing
        • Selecting between alternatives, settling on a single option among many, making a choice
        • A legislative body voting, students completing a multiple choice tests as a group, a jury deciding a defendant’s guilt, a committee choosing one of 3 candidates for an award
      • Negotiating
        • Managing differences of opinions, resolving conflicts and disputes, improving coordination
        • A leader setting a new requirements for attendance, a group taking action to expel one of its members
      • Executing
        • Taking action, carrying out a plan, making something, performing a task
        • A theater group performing a play, a military squad on the attack, work crew building a house, sports teams in competition
  3. Interdependence
    • Mutual dependence, as when one’s outcomes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and experiences are influenced, to some degree, by other people.
    • Examples: acrobats on trapeze; assembly line workers; executives and staff
  4. Structure
    • Group Structure The persistent and interrelated features of a group such as roles and norms, that influence the functioning of the group as a whole and create regularities in the interactions of its members
    • 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
  5. Cohesiveness
    • Group cohesion The solidarity or unity of a group resulting from the development of strong and mutual interpersonal bonds among members and group- level forces that unify the group, such as shared commitment to group goals and esprit de corps.
  • Five Characteristics of Groups
    • Feature: Interaction
      • Description: Groups create, organize, and sustain relationship and task interactions among members
    • Feature: Goals
      • Description: Have instrumental purposes, for they facilitate the achievement of aims or outcomes sought by the members
    • Feature: Interdependence
      • Description: Members depend on one another, in that each member influences and is influenced by each other member
    • Feature: Structure
      • Description: Organized, with each individual connected to others in a pattern of relationships, roles, and norms
    • Feature: Cohesion
      • Description: Unites members in a bonded network of interpersonal relations recognized by both members of the group and those outside of it

Types of Groups

  1. Primary groups
    • a small long-term group characterized by frequent interaction, solidarity, and high levels of interdependence among members that substantially or profoundly influences the attitudes, values, and social outcomes of its members.
      • Ex: families, good friends, or cliques of peers
  2. Social groups
    • a relatively small number of individuals who interact with one another over an extended period of time, such as work groups, clubs, and congregations.
    • Also called secondary groups, associations, and task groups
    • Are larger and more formally organized
    • Membership tend to be shorter in duration and less emotionally involving
    • Boundaries are also more permeable so they leave old groups and join new ones for they do not demand the level of commitment that primary groups do
    • Examples of social groups: military squads, governing boards, construction workers, teams, crews, fraternities and sororities, dance troupes, orchestras, bands, classes, clubs, study groups, guilds, task forces, committees, and meetings.
  3. Collectives
    • Literally any aggregate of two or more individuals but most theorists reserve the term for a relatively large aggregation or group of individuals who display similarities in actions and outlook.
    • A street crowd, a line of people (a queue) or a panicked group escaping a fire are examples of collectives, as are more widely dispersed groups. The relations joining the group are so transitory that they dissolve as soon as the members separate
  4. Categories
    • A social category is a collection of individuals who are similar to one another in some way.
    • For example, people who live in New York are New Yorkers; Americans whose ancestors are from Africa are African Americans; and those who routinely wager sums of money on games are gamblers
  • Types of Groups (Summary)
    • Primary
      • Goals: Small, long- term groups characterized by a high frequency of interaction (usually in face- to-face settings), cohesiveness, and member identification
      • Characteristics: Close friends, families, gangs, military squads
    • Social
      • Goals: Small groups of moderate duration and permeability characterized by moderate levels of interaction over an extended period of time, often in goal focused situations
      • Characteristics: Co-workers, crews, expeditions , fraternities, teams, study groups, task forces
    • Collectives
      • Goals: Aggregations of individuals that form spontaneously, last only a brief period of time, and have very permeable boundaries
      • Characteristics: Audiences, bystanders, crowds, mobs, waiting lines (queues)
    • Categories
      • Goals: Aggregations of individuals who are similar to one another in some way, such as gender, ethnicity, religions, or nationality
      • Characteristics: Asian American, New Yorker, physicians, U.S. citizen, women

Perceiving Groups

  • Entitativity
    • A term coined by Campbell (1958), to describe the extent to which a group seems to be a single, unified entity – a real group.
    • The apparent cohesiveness or unity of an assemblage of individuals.
    • Group entitativity is influenced by similarity, proximity, and common fate, as well as perceptual cues, such as pragnanz (good form) and permeability.
  • Brian Lickel et al., 2000 Study Types of Group and Entitativity
    • Primary groups professional sports teams, family, clique of friends, and street gang
    • Social groups jury, airline crew, a team in the workplace
    • Categories women, doctors, classical music listeners
    • Collectives people waiting for a bus, queue in a bank
  • E-groups: The Reality of Online Groups
    • The Internet has transformed people’s lives, including their groups. All kinds of groups, from support groups, work teams, clubs, and game players congregate via the Web. These groups go by various names– cybergroups, computer mediated communication groups, e-groups, virtual teams, and online groups but they all rely on computer-based information technologies to build and sustain social relationships, among the members (Brandon and Hollingshead, 2007).
    • The unique, technology-mediated environment in which these groups meet undoubtedly influence their dynamics: members of an online group will not interact in the same way as will members of offline groups

The Nature of Group Dynamics

  • It is both a subject matter and a scientific field of study. Kurt Lewin first used the phrase to describe the powerful processes that take place in groups (1951).
  • A field of inquiry dedicated to advancing knowledge about the nature of groups, the laws of their development, and their interrelations with individuals, other groups, and larger institutions (1968).
  • Early Researches
    • Gustave Le Bon
      • Best known for his book on the psychology of crowds and mobs (Psychologie de Foules)
    • Wilhelm Wundt
      • Wrote Volkerpsychologie (folk psychology or group psychology)
    • Emile Durkheim
      • Argued that society is made possible by the collective representations of individuals and tended to adopt a group level of analysis.
    • Floyd Allport
      • Questioned the need to go beyond the individual to explain group behavior. Individual must be the unit of analysis as groups were not real entities
    • Muzafer Sherif
      • Research studies have yet to confirm the existence of a group mind but Muzafer Sherif’s study of norm formation indicated that such group-level processes as norms can be studied through experimentation
    • Lewin’s Field Theory
      • Lewin’s Field Theory suggested that in some cases the characteristics of groups cannot be deduced from the individual members’ characteristics. Adopting the dictum, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” he maintained that when individuals merged into a group, something new was created and that the new product itself had to be the object of study
    • Tuckman’s theory of group development
      • Tuckman’s theory of group development assumes that over time, most groups move through the five stages of forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.
      • Tuckman’s theory of group development
        • Forming exchange of background personal information, uncertainty, tentative communication
        • Storming dissatisfaction, disagreement, challenges to leader and procedures, cliques form
        • Norming cohesiveness, agreement on procedures, standards, and roles, improved communication
        • Performing focus on the work of the group, task completion, decision-making, cooperation
        • Adjourning departures, withdrawal, decreased dependence, regret
  • A multilevel perspective to groups recognizes that individuals are nested in groups, and these groups are usually nested in large social aggregations, such as communities and organizations.
  • Richard Hackman’s studies of orchestras illustrate the importance of examining micro-, meso-, and macro-level factors when investigating group dynamics
  • Why study groups and their dynamic
    • Groups are influential they alter their members’ attitudes, values, and perceptions (Triplett’s study; Milgram’s experiment)
    • Applied studies of groups and their dynamics, such as action research, yield solutions to a number of practical problems.
    • Groups influence society – they mediate the connection between individuals and society at-large
    • Despite the many problems caused by groups (competition, conflict, poor decisions), humans cannot survive without groups.

LESSON 2: STUDYING GROUPS

  • Three critical requirements of a scientific approach to study of groups
    • Measurement
      • Researchers must use reliable and valid methods to measure group phenomenon
    • Research design
      • Researchers must design research procedures to test their hypotheses about groups
    • Theory
      • Researchers must develop theories that organize their comprehensively
  • Measurement of group processes
    1. Observation involves watching and recording events transpiring in groups.
      • Varieties include overt observation, covert observation, and participant observation (Covert observation reduces the biasing influences of the Hawthorne effect)
    2. Qualitative studies require the collection of descriptive data about groups but quantitative studies require the enumeration and quantification of the phenomena of interest
    3. Reliability and validity are essential qualities of all measures, for they must be consistent and they must measure what they are designed to measure.
    4. Self-report measures ask group members to describe their own perceptions and experiences. Example: interviews and questionnaires (test or scale)
      • Jacob Moreno’s Sociometry- a method for measuring the relationships among members of a group and summarizing those relationships graphically (sociogram)
  • Research methods in group dynamics
    • Case Studies
      • a research technique that draws on multiple sources of information to examine, in depth, the activities and dynamics of a group or groups.
      • Although once considered to be questionable in terms of scientific value, case studies that are carried out with care and objectivity are now widely recognized as indispensable tools for understanding group processes (Yin, 2009)
      • Examples: adolescent peer groups (Adler &Adler, 1995) artist circles (Farrell, 2001); cults (Festinger and Shachter, 1956);
      • government leaders (Hare & Naveh, 1986); rock and roll bands (Bennett, 1980
    • Experimental Studies
      • Research design in which the investigator manipulates at least one variable by randomly assigning participants to two or more different conditions, measures at least one other variable, and controls the influence of other variables on the outcome.
    • Correlational Studies
      • 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.
  • Strengths and Weaknesses
    • The conclusions drawn from case studies can be highly subjective, but they stimulate theory and provide detailed information about natural, bona fide groups.
    • Groups studied in experimental settings may not display the dynamics of naturally occurring groups, but experimentation provides the clearest test of cause-and effect hypothesis.
    • Correlational studies provide only limited information about causality, but they yield precise estimates of the strength of the relationship between two variables and raise fewer questions of ethics for researchers
  • Theoretical perspectives of studies on groups
    • Theories that focus on motivations and emotions in terms of wants, needs, drives, and feelings
    • Theories based on Skinner’s behaviorism, such as social exchange theory which assumes that individuals act to maximize their rewards and minimize their costs.
    • A systems theory approach assumes that groups are complex, adaptive, dynamic systems of interacting individuals. An input-process-output model of group performance exemplifies this approach
    • Cognitive theories assume that many group processes are understandable only after considering the cognitive processes that allow members to gather information, make sense of it, and then act on the results of their mental appraisals.
    • Biological perspectives such as evolutionary theory, argue that some group behaviors including leadership, may be rooted in people’s biological heritage

LESSON 3: INCLUSION AND IDENTITY

  • From Isolation to Inclusion
  • The Need to Belong
    • the generalized desire to seek out and join with other people, which when unsatisfied, causes a state of tension and want.
    • a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting, positive and impactful interpersonal relationship
    • it is likened to other basic needs such as hunger.
  • Solitude and Isolation
    • Can be rejuvinating and pleasurable experience (enjoyment in self discovery, contemplation, and increased spirituality)
    • Philosophers, writers, and artists reach the apex of their creativity during times of isolation, when they were not distracted by other people (Storr, 1988; Suedfeld, 1997)
    • Many people, if they have financial resources, prefer to live alone rather than with other people (Klinenberg, 2012)
    • Protracted period of isolation is disturbing (Zubek, 1973)
      • (stranded explorers, secluded scientists and prisoners in solitary confinement reported fear, insomnia, memory lapses, depression, fatigue, and general confusion).
      • Prolonged isolations are also marked by hallucinations and delusions.
  • Better Together
    • Foremost people, together, are better than alone as most spend the majority of their waking hours in the company of other people– only unmarried and widowed adults over the age of 45 reported spending more time alone than with others.
    • The sheer number of groups that exist at any moment in time is also clear evidence of the strength of the need to belong (churches, cooperatives, clubs, hobby groups, associations, etc.)
    • Americans are above average in their involvement in voluntary associations but the Dutch, Canadians, and Scandinavians are “groupier.
    • Even more numerous are many informal kin-based and social groups such as family, friends, and acquaintances that 50 to 80% reported doing things in groups, even when they can perform these activities alone.
  • Groups and Social Capital
    • 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/financial capital but determined by extensiveness of social connectedness.
      • A person with considerable social capital is well connected to other people across a wide variety of contexts, and these connections provide the means for him or her to accomplish both personal and collective outcomes.
  • Social and Emotional Loneliness
    • Loneliness
      • Cognitive and affective malaise, including sadness, dejection, self deprecation, and boredom, experienced when one’s personal relationships are perceived to be too few or too unsatisfying.
    • Emotional loneliness
      • Occurs when the problem is a lack of a long-term, meaningful, intimate relationship with another person. This might be triggered by divorce, a break-up or separation with a lover, or repeated romantic failures
    • Social loneliness
      • Occurs when people feel cut off from their network of friends, acquaintances, and group members. (people who moved to a new city/residence, children who are rejected by their peers, and new employees of large companies)
      • Both types create feelings of sadness, depression, emptiness, shame and self-pity
    • Alleviating loneliness
      • Fostering both intimate and social relations
      • Belonging to a cohesive, satisfying groups
      • Extensive interconnections among all the members of their groups
      • Children with friends were less lonely than friendless children
      • Belonging to service organizations, religious or church, business and professional organizations, and social clubs were healthier and happier
      • Those with more connections to others survive environmental disasters, cope more effectively with traumatic events, and live longer lives
  • Ostracism
    • Excluding one or more individuals from a group by reducing or eliminating contact with the person, usually by ignoring, shunning, or explicitly banishing them.
    • Dates back to the Greek who voted to punish a member of the community with banishment by inscribing his or her name on potshards called ostraca (Williams, 2007)
    • Contemporary forms of ostracism range from formal rejection like excommunications by the church, a club banning a patron to a more subtle tactics such as “silent treatment” or the “cold shoulder”
    • Even nonhuman groups practice ostracism including wolves, bees, and primates.
  • Reactions to ostracism
    • People respond very negatively (frustrated, anxious, nervous, and lonely; feel betrayed, shocked, and surprised)
    • Fight-or-flight Response:
      • a physiological and psychological response to stressful events characterized by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (increased heart rate, pupil dilation) that readies the individual to counter the threat (fight) or to escape the threat (flight).
    • Tend and Befriend Response:
      • a physiological, psychological and interpersonal response to stress events characterized by increasing nurturing, protective, and supportive behaviors (tending) and initiating and strengthening relationships with other people (befriending)
    • Studies conducted by Gaertner, Leary, and their colleagues trace some violent attacks of individuals on groups to ostracism.
    • Leary (2003) examined 15 cases of post 1995 shootings in schools in U.S. and found out that these acts of violence were tied together by a common thread: rejection
    • Cyberostracism
      • Excluding one or more individuals from a technologically mediated group interactions, such as a computer based discussion group, by reducing or eliminating communication with the person.
  • Inclusion and Human Nature
    • The Herd Instinct
      • the idea that humans are instinctively drawn to gather with other humans. William McDougall, in 1908, argued that humans are inexorably drawn to the vast human herd which exerts a baneful attraction on those outside it
    • Sociometer theory
      • A conceptual analysis of self evaluation processes that theorizes self-esteem functions to psychologically monitor one's degree of inclusion and exclusion in social groups (as proposed by Mark Leary).
      • In other words, self-esteem is part of a sociometer that monitors people’s relational value in other people’s eyes.
      • Self-esteem then is not an index of one’s sense of personal value, but instead an index of acceptance into groups.
  • From Individualism to Collectivism
    • Individualism
      • a tradition or worldview based on the independence and uniqueness of each individual.
      • It assumes that people are autonomous free and must be to act and think in ways that they prefer, rather than submit to the demands of the group as each person is self-governing and should strive and goals that will personally to achieve outcomes benefit them.
    • Collectivism
      • A tradition, ideology, or personal orientation that emphasizes the primacy of the group or community rather than each individual person.
  • The Micro Level: The Social Self
    • William James offered one of the first psychological analyses of the self in his Principles of Psychology where he asserted that the sense of self (or self- concept) is an individual’s conception of his or her enduring qualities and characteristics.
    • Personal Identity
      • an individual’s perception of those aspects of his or her self- concept that derive from individualistic, personal qualities such as traits, beliefs and skills.
    • Social Identity
      • (of collective self) those aspects of his or her self-concept that derive from relationships with other people, groups, and society.
      • Individualists, independents, or idiocentrics
      • Independence. “I tend to do my own thing, and others in my family do the same.”
      • Goals: “I take great pride in accomplishing what no one else can accomplish.”
      • Competition . “It is important to me that I perform better than others on a task.”
      • Uniqueness. “I am unique – different from others in many respects.”
      • Privacy: “I like my privacy.
      • Self- knowledge. I know my strengths and weaknesses. ”
      • Communication style. “I always state my opinions very clearly.”
      • Collectivists, interdependents, or allocentrics
      • Relating. “To understand who I am, you must see me with members of my group.”
      • Belonging: “To me, pleasure is spending time with others.”
      • Duty. “I would help, within my means, if a relative were in financial difficulty.”
      • Harmony. “I make an effort to avoid arguments with my group members.”
      • Advice. Before making a decision, I always consult with others.”
      • Context. “How I behave depends on who I am with, where I am, or both.”
      • Hierarchy. “I have respect for the authority figures with whom I interact.”
      • Group. “I would rather do a group paper or lab than do one alone.”
  • Sex and Generational Differences
    • Some studies suggest that women lean more toward collectivism, at least in Western cultures that place more value on interdependence.
    • In general, individuals who are members of social groups that are ranked lower in that society tend to be more collectivistic.
    • Baby boomers displayed strong work ethic but had less time to donate to volunteer activities
    • Gen X (1965 to 1980), Gen Y, or Me Generation are characterized by stronger needs for autonomy, individualism, confirmation, and support.
  • Optimal distinctiveness theory
    • Proposed by social psychologist Marilynn Brewer (2012), it argues that individuals strive to maintain a balance between three basic needs: the need to be assimilated by the group, the need to be connected to friends and loved ones, and the need for autonomy and differentiation.
  • The Meso Level: The Group Culture
    • Group culture
      • the distinct ways that members of a group represent their experiences, including shared knowledge, beliefs, rituals, customs, rules, language, norms, and practices.
      • A collectivistic orientation stresses hierarchy and reacts more negatively to nonconformity.
      • Collectivism’s emphasis on relationships is manifested in the emphasis on communal over exchange relationships.
      • Exchange relationship is the reciprocal interdependency that emphasizes the trading of gratifying experiences and rewarding among members.
        • Individuals expect to receive rewards in exchange for their investment of time, energy, and other personal resources
      • Communal relationship is the reciprocal interdependency that emphasizes meeting the needs and interests of others rather than maximizing one’s own personal outcomes.
      • Individuals are more concerned with what their group receives and prefer to think of their work as a joint effort and feel disappointed if other members insist on reciprocating any help given.
      • Norm of reciprocity
        • a social standard that enjoins individuals to pay back in kind what they receive from others.
      • Egocentric
        • (or self-serving) emphasizes one’s own needs, perspective, and importance in contrast to those of other individuals or the groups (as against sociocentric or group serving)
      • Equity norm
        • a social standard that encourages distributing rewards and resources to members in proportion to their inputs
      • Equality norm encourages distributing rewards and resources equally among all members.
  • Macro Level: Collectivism across Cultures
    • United States, other English-speaking, and Western European (Finland and Germany) countries tend to be more individualistic than Asian, Eastern European, African, and Middle Eastern countries. Latin and South American countries (Puerto Rico and Chile) exhibit greater individualism than others (Mexico and Costa Rica).
    • The very idea of the self differs across cultures. To the Japanese, the concept of self completely independent from the environment is very foreign (Jibun means “one’s portion of the shared space”).
  • From Personal Identity to Social Identity
    • Social identity theory
      • developed by Tajfel and his colleagues, traces the development of a collective identity back to two key processes:
        1. categorization
        2. Identification
      • Social categorization
        • the perceptual classification of people, including the self, into categories (age, race, nationality, etc.)
        • Stereotypes (or prototypes)
          • are socially shared set of cognitive generalizations (beliefs and expectations) about the qualities and characteristics of the typical member of a particular group or social category
      • Social identification
        • accepting the group as an extension of the self and therefore basing one’s self- definition on the group’s qualities and characteristics.
  • Motivation and Self Identity
    • Hoggs theory of self-identity assumes individuals are motivated to maintain self-esteem and to clarify their understanding of themselves and other people.
    • Self-esteem is shaped both by an individual's personal qualities and by the perceived value of the groups to which they belong. By basking