Group Dynamics

Group
People gathering at a place
with a specific purpose
---------general definition

• A group is a social unit consisting of a number of individuals

who stand in role and status relationships to one another,
stabilized in some degree at the time and who possess a set
of values and norms of their own regulating their behaviour,
at least in matters of consequence to the group.
------Sherif and Sherif in Social Psychology
A social group as a unit consists of plural number of separate organisms
who have a collective perception of their unity and who have the ability to
work together and are acting unitary manner toward their environment.
--------- M. Smith (1945)

By a group we, generally, mean set of individuals who share a common
fate, that is who are interdependent in the sense that an event which
affects one member is likely to affect all.
------- Fielder (1967)
A Group is two or more individuals who are connected to each
other by social relationships. Because they interact and influence
each other, groups develop a number of dynamic processes that
separate them from a random collection of individuals. These
processes include norms, roles, relations, development, need to
belong, social influence, and effects on behavior.
 Characteristics of a Social / Human Group

a s e
vat o nal b
Mot Organ
izato
n
S t r u c t u re
Interde
pende
n cy
 Types of Groups
(on the basis of origin, purpose, duration, and area)

CE G ROU P
FACE-TO-FA
THE HA
N G-OVER
GROUP

ABSTRACT GROUP
Characteristics of Class as a Group

LEADERSHIP

MOTIVATION
COMMON GOAL

ORGANIZED STRUCTURE
• “A learning environment will happen, whether
intentional or not…so why not go about
building a positive environment, intentionally.”
– Rod Locero
Group dynamics
 Meaning of Group Dynamics
• In Education – it refers to a set of value
premises, set of educational objectives and a
set of ways groups maybe managed to
achieve these objectives.

democratic ideals / principles,

problem solving situations
 Group Dynamics
• Kurt Lewin (1943, 1948, 1951) is commonly identified as
the founder of the movement to study groups
scientifically. He coined the term group dynamics to
describe the way groups and individuals act and react to
changing circumstances.

• Group dynamics mean the change of behaviour through

interaction in the group.
• Refers to forces which operate in a group situation.

• Studies the structure of the group and other

phenomena which emerge out of group interaction.

• Group dynamics is the study of groups, and also a

general term for group processes.
Dimensions of a group process
Aspects of group process include:
• Patterns of communication and coordination
• Patterns of influence
• Roles / relationship
• Patterns of dominance (e.g. who leads, who defers)
• Balance of task focus vs social focus
• Level of group effectiveness
• How conflict is handled
• Emotional state of the group as a whole,
 Group relations in the class
The pattern of group relations was studied by
Moreno through sociometric technique:
Stars / Popular : there are students
in the class whom majority of people
like.
Isolates/ Loners: the members of the
class are indifferent towards these
students. The isolates makes no choice
and receive no choice.
 roots of sociometry
• Term coined by Jacob Levy Moreno in 1930s
• First sociometric study conducted by Moreno and
associates in 1930s in a school in New York
• Moreno devised his own sociometric method of
testing; many others have followed
• Sociometric testing is carried out in schools,
business corporations, the military, therapy groups
and could be administered purposefully wherever a
 Sociometry
• Society is basically an attraction – repulsion
system.
• Sociometry is the study of those aspects of the socio-
economic climate in the classroom having to do with feelings
of attraction, rejection, and indifference which pupils express
each other when faced with situations calling for interaction
within the classroom.
• It is a method of discovering and analyzing patterns of
friendship within a group setting.
 what is sociometry?
• Term derived from Latin ‘socius’ and ‘metrum’ i.e. a
measurement of the degree of relatedness among
people by carrying out indirect methods of observation

• A useful working definition of sociometry is that it is a

methodology for tracking the energy vectors of
interpersonal relatonships in a group. It shows the
patterns of how individuals associate with each other
when acting as a group toward a specified end or goal
(Criswell in Moreno, 1960, p. 140).
• Moreno defined sociometry as “the
mathematcal study of psychological
propertes of populations, the experimental
technique of and the results obtained by
application of quantitative methods” (Moreno,
1953, pp. 15-16).
 Need for Sociometry
• Teachers observation and • Give importance to students who
evaluation may not always be can hide their negative
right personality traits
• Teachers tend to underrate • Overrate students who have
those who are poor in desirable personality traits but
academics performance regarded as outsiders by students
in the class
• Underrate students who
• Teachers might overrate students
antagonize teachers and
good in academic performance
disregard school regulation but not interpersonal skills.
 Importance of sociometry
• The teacher may not understand why some is a star of the
class and someone may not be liked by the class but the
relationship in the graph or matrix of sociogram can give
clue to the right direction to search for reasons.
• Map directly help in the management of the class.
• If the class has to do some group activity teacher can take
the help of the stars of the class.
 Contd.,.
• Friendship chain is good to develop group spirit.
• If there is a clique it may not be broken but
could be encouraged to be part of the whole
class and monitored.
• It can help to develop cohesiveness and sound
group relations in the class
 why sociometry? Uses
• for assessment of • as a way of allowing the
behavior within groups; group to see itself
objectively and to
• for interventions to bring analyze its own
about positive change dynamics;
and determining the
extent of change; • for assessing dynamics
and development in
• as a powerful tool for groups devoted to
reducing conflict and therapy or training.
improving
communication;
 sociometric criteria
• Sociometry is based on the fact that people make choices in
interpersonal relationships.

• Choices are always made on some basis or criterion.

• The criterion may be subjective, such as an intuitive feeling of liking

or disliking a person on first impression.

• The criterion may be more objective and conscious, such as

knowing that a person does or does not have certain skills needed
for the group task.
some principles on criterion selection
• The criterion should be as simply stated and as
straightforward as possible.

• The respondents should have some actual experience in

reference to the criterion, otherwise the questions will
not arouse any significant response.

• The criterion should be specific rather than general or

vague. Vaguely defined criteria evoke vague responses.
• When possible, the criterion should be actual rather than
hypothetical.

• A criterion is more powerful if it is one that has a potential for being

acted upon. For example, for incoming college freshmen the
question “Whom would you choose as a roommate for the year?”
has more potential of being acted upon than the question “Whom
do you trust?”

• As a general rule questions should be future oriented, imply how

the results are to be used, and specify the boundaries of the group
(Hale, 1985).
 sociogram and sociomatrix
• When members of a group are asked to choose others in
the group based on a specific criteria, everyone in the
group can make choices and describe why the choices were
made.
• From these choices a description emerges of the networks
inside the group (likes and dislikes). A drawing, like a map,
of those networks is called a sociogram.
• The data for the sociogram may also be displayed as a table
or matrix of each person’s choices. Such a table is called a
sociomatrix.
Thank you