Where are you in the Group?

 

Where are you in the group?

 

Groups are where we belong, social animals our evolution has been tied to and adapted by the rules of survival and this has been made possible by the group.

Along with this has come group norms and behaviour that colours our world and informs our destiny.

Below are some of the traits of groups that are valuable even essential in knowing if you are to understand your fellow human beings and fellow group members.

Understand that there is no right or wrong in this it is just how it is.

 

 Groups are there if you know it or not.

The desire to form and join social groups is extremely powerful and built into our nature. Amongst other things groups give us a most valuable gift, our social identity, which contributes to our sense of who we are.

People form and join groups very easily and with minimal differentiation.  Even if they did not know people in their group that well they favoured them over others. Group behaviour, then, can arise from almost nothing but is very powerful this is called in Psychology speak the 'minimal groups paradigm'.

 

 Initiation rites are always involved.

Existing groups don't let others join for free; there is always a cost even if it is disguised. Sometimes it is monetary, sometimes intellectual, and sometimes physical—but usually there is an initiation rite.

As part of an experiment a group of women was read passages from sexually explicit novels. Afterwards they rated the group they had joined much more positively than those who hadn't had to undergo the humiliating initiation.  Groups want to test you, but they want you to value your membership and part of that is the initiation process.

 

Conformity is essential.

When you are in a group we have get a feel for the group norms, and follow the rules of behaviour in that group. Group norms can be extremely powerful, bending our behaviours in ways we would never expect.

One of the most famous experiments showing how easily we conform to unwritten group rules was conducted by a researcher named Asch . He had participants sit amongst a group of other people, judging the length of a line. The trick was that all the other members of the group were confederates of the experimenter who had been told to lie about which line was longer. Incredibly 76% of participants denied the evidence from their own senses at least once, just to conform to the group. Afterwards people made up all kinds of excuses for their behaviour. Most popular was a variation on: "that many people can't be wrong". Oh yes they can.

 

If you do not conform you are ostracised.

If you do not conform you will be ostracised. Many experiments over the years have shown that if you go outside the boundaries of the group you are asking for trouble. In another famous experiment Garfinkel in 1967 had adolescents return to their families and behave totally out of character, i.e. speaking only when spoken to, being polite, acting formally—but only for 15 minutes at a time. Rather than being delighted their parents were shocked and angry, accusing their children of being selfish and rude. Break the group's rules and you'll know about it soon enough.

 

 You become your job.

Psychologists put young men into a simulated prison environment, making some prisoners and others guards. After only 6 of its planned 14 days the experiment had to be stopped because participants conformed all too well to their roles as submissive prisoners or domineering guards. Some were emotionally disturbed by the experience. Even the experimenters were succumbing to their 'roles' as prison superintendents before the plug was pulled on the whole experiment.

 Leaders gain trust by conforming

Where do leaders come from? In some groups, they are appointed or imposed from outside, but in many groups leaders emerge slowly and subtly from the ranks.

If you observe children at school carefully you will notice successful leaders are those who initially fit within the group then slowly began to suggest new activities adapted from the old. Children don’t follow potential leaders who jump straight in with new ideas. Leaders first conform, than only later, when trust has been gained, can they be confident that others will follow. This is true for all groups.

 

Groups are about performance.

Just being in a group or with others makes us perform better. It is not all about the effects of competition. Just the presence of other people seems to facilitate our own performance, but more so when the task is relatively separate to others and can be judged on its own merits. Individuals with a group will perform better at a task than those not in a group. When there is reward or merit f that performance will be even better.

 

People in a group will loaf if they can hide.

Despite the above people in groups demonstrate a tremendous capacity for loafing if the dynamics in the group allows them to do so.  It seems that when hiding in the group is easy, for example when tasks are additive and each person's contribution is difficult to judge, people will slack off to an impressive degree. This is a challenge for large organisations and those where governance is difficult or not well understood. Big government and business are obvious places where this occurs.

 

The grapevine more accurate than you think.

Rumour, chit chat and gossip are the norm in most groups and organisation. It is easy to dismiss it as just prattle, but surprisingly most of it turns out to be true, even if the details are not always accurate.

An analysis of workplace communication  found that about 80% of the time people are talking about work and a surprising 80% of the information is accurate. Other studies have come up with a similar figure, suggesting that while details are inevitably lost along the way, the grapevine is mostly accurate.

 

Groups are competitive.

Individuals are cooperative within the group but when in the group as a collective they are very competitive and antagonistic to those in other groups.

 When on their own people were competitive about 37% of the time but when they are in a group of three this increased to 54%. People easily become suspicious of other groups, reasoning that while their individual members may be alright, the group as a whole cannot be trusted.

You belong to many groups your behaviour is defined and influenced by the group you are in at the moment. Knowledge of this fact will aid you in navigating the groupespere.

Good Luck, if you have read this you are in my group now!

Inspired by a blog PS Jeremy Dean

Rules That Govern Groups