Groups and Individuals

What is the problem with the groups? What are the characteristics of the groups? Entity is how coherent a group appears (Baron, Byrne, & Branscombe, 2005). Groups are characterized by roles, status, norms, and cohesion. Roles can cause people to behave differently than they normally would. For example, a female manager behaves differently, probably in a more masculine way, at work, than she would behave at home, in a family group. Physical characteristics (such as beauty and height) and behaviors help people gain status in a group. An example of this statement is the Hollywood or film industry, where beautiful actors and actresses can get a chance, even if they have no acting talent. Another example of this statement is the corporate world. Super high perspective CEOs are perceived as more powerful than lower perspectives and often people are more afraid of tall people. Being aware of group dynamics can ensure a successful social life.

Also, if the members like each other, then the group is cohesive and tends to remain a group. Oddly enough, one way to gain status is to express anger. In general, the benefits of participating in a group are: self-awareness, improved status, social change, and progress toward meaningful goals. Some costs or disadvantages of groups are: great demands on energy, time and resources, and loss of personal freedom.

Groups, like friendships and other relationships, need to be nurtured and cultivated. Parenting requires money, time and energy. Individuals leave groups when the group no longer reflects their beliefs and values. When the desire to join a group is very strong, prospective members are willing to undergo painful initiations, such as Ivy League fraternities, as shown in various movies, such as the movie “The Social Network,” which was released last year. , in 2010.

Additionally, having an audience or co-actors can influence the performance of an individual or group. For example, performers, such as dancers, Cirque du Soleil performers, or Olympic athletes, practice vigorously for years to perform in front of as many people as possible. If a person knows that she will be in front of an audience, rather than alone, she will dress and have a more appropriate posture. Some exhibitionists can thrive in an audience. One example is the famous and touristy Hyde Park Speaker’s Corner in London, UK, where anyone can stand in front of an audience or crowd and say whatever they please, good or bad! This effect is called social facilitation-inhibition.

The drive theory says that an audience can increase or decrease the level of performance, depending on whether the dominant responses, for a given circumstance, are correct or not. The distraction conflict theory says that the audience induces conflicting impulses to focus on the performance task and the audience. The increase in arousal could be accompanied by a brief focus of attention from the performers. This social facilitation also occurs among animals. Dogs and rabbits are especially notorious for having a short attention span and being easily forgetful and distractible, which generally makes them all the more endearing.

It is also important to note that when multiple people work on the same task, social loafing can occur and people perform worse. People tend to perform worse on simple tasks and better on complex tasks, in front of an audience. For example, if a person is at a small karaoke bar in her neighborhood, he is likely to feel less pressure than if he were performing a series of songs at a stadium concert, and therefore the person will make room for the others. mistakes. To eliminate social loafing, it is best to assign specific and unique individual tasks that are important to the individual and to which they are committed. To maximize individual performance and combat social loafing, it is recommended to: study alone and take tests in public, work on simple tasks in front of an audience, ensure individual contribution can be individually assessed, work only with committed individuals, and secure contributions . they are unique, versus superfluous or redundant.

Another characteristic of the group is that when people are part of large crowds, their self-awareness and social identity are reduced. In addition, they adopt the current norms that often allow impulsive and unbridled behaviors. Some examples are a musical concert and a sports game in the stadiums, during which there is increased police surveillance, given the probability that the crowd will gather. In these scenarios, criminals may think they are less likely to get caught or punished and thrive on being watched.

Regarding group dynamics, cooperation is a common aspect in society. Cooperation doesn’t always happen, even when it should, due to social dilemmas, where some people may increase their own defection gains. An example of a social dilemma is the prisoner’s dilemma. If both parties involved choose to cooperate or confess, rather than compete or not confess, they get more favorable results. Cooperation is facilitated by strong reciprocity, communication and a personal attitude towards cooperation.

Extraverted individuals, compared to introverts, are more likely to seek and enjoy cooperation. Some people are very competitive and live a very competitive lifestyle in all aspects of their lives. Most humans naturally tend to reciprocate, according to human evolutionary history. Creatures that cooperate have a higher chance of survival and reproduction than creatures that don’t. In short, not always everyone collaborates to share the work. Most people have experienced responsible and hardworking people, within their groups, versus lazy or lazy.

On the other hand, conflict occurs when an individual perceives a discrepancy or incompatibility between his own interest and the interest of the group. Faulty attributions, personal traits, poor communication, and objective consideration of one’s own viewpoints can lead to conflict. The most effective ways to reduce conflict are higher goal induction and bargaining or bargaining. Higher goals are achieved through the cooperation of people, with individual goals opposing each other. Some examples occur in religious groups, work groups, and friend groups. Members may grow apart emotionally, develop new and different needs, and/or mature socially at different rates.

What is group equity? The members of the group want justice. Equity is evaluated as results and is called distributive justice. Fairness can also be evaluated as procedures and called procedural fairness. Finally, fairness can be evaluated as kind treatment and called transactional (interpersonal) justice. When someone feels that he has been wronged, then he takes action to restore justice. Being spiritual can help you let go and trust that people don’t always have to bring others to justice or become “cops.” Life, circumstances, or the “universe,” or energy, or karma as some people call it, can do a better job of restoring justice than people, and that way individuals don’t have to take chances. to take care of her.

Often on the news, people hear about someone committing a crime and not coming clean to the authorities and getting away with it. Years later, people hear that those same criminals got sick and died. That is an example that not everything has to be ‘an eye for an eye’. Sometimes an individual has to learn that it is time to disengage from certain individuals, groups, and/or activities. In the event that some people decide it is necessary to bring someone to justice, then some common overt actions have been protests, and some covert actions have been employee theft (employees steal from the company, to deal with to perceived unfairness) or sabotage or suggestions that others deserve fairer treatment.

It is useful to know that some strategies to achieve an integrative agreement or a better result than simple compromise are: expanding the pie (increase available resources), non-specific compensation (one party gets what they want and the other party is compensated fairly ). unrelated issue), complicity (both parties make concessions on low-priority issues, in exchange for high-priority concessions), bridging (neither party gets what they originally wanted, but a third option is introduced, in the interest of both) , and , finally, cost reduction (one party is satisfied and the cost for the other party is reduced). Superordinate goals bind, versus separate, the interests of two different parties.

What is a possible big myth about groups and individuals? It may actually be a myth that groups make better decisions than individuals, because groups can experience that group polarization effect and make more extreme decisions than individuals. Some horrific examples of this effect can be the Holocaust and other similar events, including the current ones, similar to war. Groups could also be affected by groupthink or assume they are right and reject any other information. Groups are likely to accept criticism from groups and reject the same criticism from outside groups.

According to distributive justice or equity, groups tend to be part of the biased processing of information, to adhere to general values ​​or achieve what they want. Politics can unconsciously use distributive justice. Devil’s advocate and the creation of true mavericks in groups are examples of how to improve decision-making (Baron, Byrne, & Branscombe, 2005). In the devil’s advocate strategy, one person takes it upon themselves to disagree with the majority. This strategy forces others to re-evaluate, re-discuss, and think more carefully, because people have to create a new argument to respond to the devil’s advocate’s criticism.

Authentic dissent is like devil’s advocate, except that no one in particular is cast in the role of disagreeing, rather one or more people simply begin to disagree with the majority. In conclusion, groups are necessary for healthy socio-emotional human development. Being aware of the group dynamics explained above, can ensure a successful social life.

References

Baron, RA, Byrne, DR & Branscombe, NR (2005) Social Psychology. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *