John A. Cagle

2. Group Initial Notions John A. Cagle

3. Define “small group.”

4. Small Group DefinitionBerelson & Steiner: “A small group is an aggregate of people, from two up to an unspecified but not too large number, who associate together in face-to-face relations over an extended period of time, who differentiate themselves in some regard from others around them, who are mutually aware of their membership in the group, and whose personal relations are taken as an end in itself.”

5. Four Features of Group LifeHare: • The members share one or more motives or goals which determine the direction in which the group will move. • The members develop a set of norms, which set the boundaries within which interpersonal relations may be established and actively carried on. • If interaction continues, a set of roles becomes stabilized and the new group becomes differentiated from other groups. • A network of interpersonal attraction develops on the basis of the ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ of members for one another.”

6. What are the major types of groups?

7. Four Types of Small GroupsBerelson & Steiner: • the institutionalized small group, e.g., the family • the small group within a large organization, often called a mediating group because of its linking position between the individual and the organization, e.g., the work group in a factory or office, a group of soldiers (buddies) in the army; • the problem-solving group, e.g., a committee with a task to perform; and • the autonomous group, e.g., a circle of four friends built on free choice and voluntary association.

8. What characteristics does a group have?

9. Cartwright and Zander: When a set of people constitute a group, one or more of the following statements will characterize them: • they engage in frequent interaction; • they define themselves as members; • they are defined by others as belonging to the group; • they share norms concerning matters of common interest; • they participate in a system of interlocking roles; • they identify with one another as a result of having set up the same model-object or ideals in their super-ego; • they find the group rewarding; • they pursue promotively interdependent goals; • they have a collective perception of their unity; • they tend to act in a unitary manner toward the environment.

11. Define “communication.”

12. CommunicationNewcomb, Turner, & Converse: “For all practical purposes, the processes of human interaction are communicative processes. This is not to deny that persons affect each other by the transfer of energy as well as of information, but only to assert that the kinds of interpersonal effects in which we are interested, as social psychologists, are mediated by communication.”

13. Communication …a few definitions • Communication is what is referred to when there isn’t a breakdown in communication. • Communication is the verbal interchange of thought or idea. • Communication is an “effort after meaning,” a creative act initiated by man in which he seeks to discriminate and organize cues so as to orient himself in his environment and satisfy his changing needs. • Communication is simultaneous co-orientation. • Communication is the socially learned process occurring when two or more persons are interacting by transmitting and receiving visual and auditory stimuli which are treated as symbolic cues to which meaning is attached.

15. Interpersonal settingBarnlund: • Two or more individuals in physical proximity-- “perceptual engagement.” • Each person begins to provide cues that are a direct consequence of the cues supplied by the others--communicative interdependence. • Focused interaction proceeds through an exchange of messages. • Coding requires the selection of appropriate verbal and nonverbal cues or signs to express the internal state of the sender of the message. • Coding must be accompanied by an imaginative interpretation of the probable meaning to be assigned to the cues by the receiver. • Face-to-face encounters. • Largely unstructured--relatively few rules—norms, roles—that govern the frequency, form, content of the interpersonal messages.In summary, the study of interpersonal communication is concerned with the investigation of relatively informal social situations in which persons in face-to-face encounters sustain a focused interaction through the reciprocal exchange of verbal and nonverbal cues.

16. Group setting • Larger size of the group, producing profound qualitative differences in expectations and behavior. • Clear and less permeable boundaries. One is usually aware of his membership in a group. Exclusions prevent communication altogether, while inclusion carries communicative rights and obligations. • Groups are relatively more permanent. This is partly due to their being formed to solve persistent environmental problems or to satisfy continuing psychological needs. As a result, groups tend to pursue long-term goals. • The size and permanence of groups, along with the complex tasks that occupy them, combine to produce an elaborate internal structure as well. • The norms that evolve out of early interaction provide group members with standards for assessing the appropriateness of later communicative acts. • Difference in ability lead to specialization of functions so that some members repeatedly perform certain tasks; others are expected to refrain from these tasks and to do others.

17. Hare, Borgata, & Bales: “The study of small groups is . . . a method for the study of social systems, of culture, and of personality—all three. Its strategic significance in the development of social sciences generally is that it relates all three of these types of structure to a common base—the social process out of which they arise and through which they change.”