Not All Groups Are Equal: Types and Dynamics of Social Groups

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Not All Groups Are Equal: Types and Dynamics of Social Groups

Advanced Social Psychology · Chapter 9: Group Dynamics, Conformity, and ObedienceSection 9.1 · lesson 54 of 8510 min · free with a free account

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In this lesson

The taxonomy that has to come before any claim about group influence.

  • Distinguish groups from aggregates and social categories
  • Differentiate primary, secondary, in-, out-, and reference groups
  • Analyze structure: entitativity, cohesion, roles, status, norms
  • Apply Tuckman's developmental model to real groups

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Everything said in the video, section by section (1,312 words). Read along, or search it.

Group Dynamics, Conformity, and Obedience

Not All Groups Are Equal

This chapter is about how groups shape people. But it opens with a question that sounds pedantic and is not. What actually counts as a group? The word is used so loosely that it hides more than it shows. And the findings in the rest of this chapter depend on the answer. Conformity effects are stronger in some kinds of group than others. Groupthink is a pathology of one specific kind. So we build a taxonomy first, then a structural vocabulary. And finally a developmental model, because groups change over time. Get this right, and the rest of the chapter reads as consequences.

The Problem

The Word Conceals More Than It Reveals

Start with the definition of the whole field, from Allport. Social psychology studies how the presence of others, real, imagined, or implied, shapes us. Now consider four things all called groups. A queue at a coffee counter. A national diaspora. A study cohort preparing for finals. And a four-person research team. All four take the label, and they are not equivalent units of analysis. The processes acting on a transient line of strangers are anonymity and indifference. Those bear little resemblance to a tight project team. Where members coordinate, monitor, and sanction one another. Treating these as one kind of entity invites theoretical confusion.

Criteria

What Makes a Collection a Group

Lewin, in nineteen forty-eight, gave the anchor definition. A group exists when its members are interdependent. Meaning changes in the state of one member change the state of others. Later theorists added markers. Shared identity, from Tajfel and Turner in nineteen seventy-nine. Common goals, from Sherif in nineteen thirty-six. Structured relations, from Cartwright and Zander in nineteen sixty-eight. And perceived entitativity, from Campbell in nineteen fifty-eight. Now here is the honest part of the account. None of those criteria is sufficient on its own. Together they sketch a family resemblance among the relevant phenomena. That is a weaker kind of definition, and a more truthful one.

Working Taxonomy

Aggregate, Category, Group

Three terms do the taxonomic work. An aggregate is individuals co-present in space. Commuters on a platform. Spectators glancing at the same accident. They share neither identity nor structured interaction. A social category is different. Its members share an attribute. Left-handers, or second-year undergraduates. But they may never interact at all. A group proper has four features together. Interdependence, mutual awareness, shared norms, and differentiated roles. Categories matter for one particular reason. Individuals can come to identify with them. That transforms a nominal grouping into a psychological one. Turner and colleagues, in nineteen eighty-seven, call it self-categorization.

Cooley, 1909

Primary Versus Secondary Groups

Cooley's distinction, from nineteen oh nine, is still analytically powerful. Primary groups are typified by the family, and the close peer circle. Frequent face-to-face contact, and emotional investment. Plus a sense that membership is intrinsic to who one is. They are the principal sites of socialization. And the source of what Mead, in nineteen thirty-four, called the social self. Secondary groups are organized around specific tasks. Relations inside them are role-bound, and instrumental. A jury, a project team, or a ministerial committee. None of those needs any expectation of intimacy to function. But the two categories are not mutually exclusive. Primary relationships often crystallize inside secondary settings.

Us And Them

In-Groups, Out-Groups, and Minimal Groups

Sumner, in nineteen oh six, introduced a contrast that has never left. The in-group is those with whom one shares identity and loyalty. And a sense of common fate. The out-group is what the in-group is defined against, implicitly or explicitly. Tajfel's minimal group experiments, from nineteen seventy-one, tested how little it takes. Even arbitrary, trivial categorizations were sufficient. Sufficient to elicit preferential evaluation and allocation toward in-group members. Social identity theory explains that through motivated self-esteem. Part of the self is derived from group membership. So members perceive their in-group favorably, and differentiate it from others. And notice the uncomfortable consequence of that mechanism. The same machinery underwrites cohesion within groups and prejudice between them.

Reference Groups

Groups You Do Not Belong To

Not every group that influences us is one we belong to. Hyman in nineteen forty-two, and Newcomb in nineteen forty-three, named this. A reference group is one whose standards you adopt, for self-evaluation or conduct. Reference groups perform two distinct functions. The comparative function provides benchmarks. For judging your outcomes, attitudes, or attributes. That is central to relative-deprivation accounts, from Stouffer and colleagues in nineteen forty-nine. The normative function specifies which beliefs and behaviors are appropriate. The aspirational case shows how far this reaches. A first-generation graduate student may be guided by the academic profession. A profession she does not yet belong to. It can shape her preferences and effort long before entry, or without it.

The Gap

Membership Is Not Identification

Membership and identification do not always coincide, and the gap decides what applies. A nominal membership group is one you were administratively assigned to. It may exert very little psychological pull. A psychological group is one you identify with. That can exert considerable pull, even without formal enrollment. Most classical findings on conformity and influence depend on the second kind. One more concept belongs here, and it is about perception. Campbell coined entitativity in nineteen fifty-eight. It is the degree to which a collection is perceived as a coherent entity. It rises with similarity, proximity, common fate, and coordinated movement. And perception drives consequences, which is why it matters. Highly entitative collections get reasoned about as units, and held collectively accountable. Even when the underlying interdependence is actually weak.

Structure

Five Properties That Emerge

Once a collection constitutes a group, five structural properties predictably emerge. Entitativity is the perceived groupiness of an aggregation. Indicated by similarity, proximity, and common fate. Cohesion is the forces binding members together. Indicated by attraction, task commitment, and pride. Status hierarchy is differential prestige among positions. Indicated by speaking turns, deference, and resource flow. Role structure is patterned expectations for positions. Task roles versus socio-emotional roles. And normative climate is the implicit and explicit standards. Indicated by reactions to deviance, and by sanctions. Together they turn a loose assembly into a functioning social unit.

The Properties, Closer

What the Research Adds

Each of those properties has a research literature behind it. Cohesion is the resultant force binding members to the group. Festinger, Schachter, and Back defined it that way in nineteen fifty. It derives from interpersonal attraction, and from task commitment. Cohesive groups show higher productivity, lower turnover, and greater normative conformity. But the productivity gain carries a condition, from Mullen and Copper in nineteen ninety-four. It holds only when group norms favor performance. So cohesion does not produce productivity directly. It produces conformity to whatever the norms happen to be. Status hierarchies emerge rapidly, often within minutes, even among strangers. Berger and colleagues showed that in nineteen seventy-two. Roles differentiate into task-oriented and socio-emotional functions, per Bales in nineteen fifty. And norms codify the standards, shown by the swift sanctions on violators.

Tuckman

How Groups Develop Over Time

Groups are not static, and Tuckman's model is the standard account. From nineteen sixty-five, extended with Jensen in nineteen seventy-seven. Five broad phases, through which task groups commonly pass. Forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. But a caution comes with it. The labels are not a strict sequence. Mature groups often cycle back through earlier stages. Following changes in membership, or changes in the task. So where does the model's value actually lie? It says the behavior you observe is partly about timing. Disputes during early storming. Smooth coordination during performing. Those are functions of the developmental trajectory, not of who the members are.

Consolidate

Why the Distinctions Do Work Later

Look at what the rest of this chapter covers. Roles, then norms, then groupthink. Then social loafing and facilitation, then minority and majority influence. Every one of those depends on the distinctions built here. Conformity is markedly stronger in cohesive, high-entitativity groups. Groupthink is a pathology of tightly knit decision-making teams, not committees in general. Social loafing arises chiefly under one condition. When individual contributions are pooled, and unidentifiable. So hold these distinctions clearly as you go on. They let you read each finding as a consequence of a specific kind of group. Rather than merely noting that some unspecified collective was present.

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FAQ

Questions students ask us

About Not All Groups Are Equal: Types and Dynamics of Social Groups

What is the difference between a group, an aggregate, and a social category?
An aggregate is a set of people who happen to share a space, like commuters on a platform, without shared identity or structured interaction. A social category is people who share an attribute, such as left-handers, but may never interact. A group proper combines interdependence, mutual awareness, shared norms, and differentiated roles. Kurt Lewin (1948) defined a group by interdependence: a change in one member's state changes the others'.
What is the difference between primary and secondary groups?
Primary groups, such as families and close friends, involve frequent face-to-face contact, emotional investment, and a sense that membership is part of who you are. Secondary groups, such as juries, project teams, and committees, are organized around specific tasks, with role-bound, practical relations. Charles Horton Cooley introduced the primary group concept in 1909, and later sociologists added the secondary group contrast. The two overlap, since close friendships often form inside task groups.
What is a reference group in social psychology?
A reference group is a group whose standards a person uses to judge themselves or guide their behavior, whether or not they belong to it. Herbert Hyman introduced the term in 1942. Reference groups serve a comparative function, providing benchmarks for judging your own outcomes, and a normative function, setting which beliefs and behaviors are appropriate. A student aspiring to a profession may adopt its standards long before joining it.
What are Tuckman's stages of group development?
Bruce Tuckman's 1965 model names the stages forming, storming, norming, and performing, and adjourning was added with Mary Ann Jensen in 1977. Groups first come together, then go through conflict, settle on shared norms, and work effectively, before finally disbanding. The stages are not a strict sequence: mature groups often cycle back to earlier stages when membership or the task changes, so behavior partly reflects timing rather than personalities.

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