documents attached.
Studying Groups
Chapter 2
How do researchers test their theories and hypotheses about groups and their dynamics?
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What Are the Critical Requirements of a Scientific Study of Groups?
The need for objectivity:
- Theories that organize knowledge of groups – detailed questioning/observation and hypotheses regarding individuals within groups – many people helped with this development
- Research procedures (i.e., effective experimental design) to test hypotheses about groups – e.g., Kurt Lewin believed that the creation of an empirically verifiable theory was the essence of group science
- Reliable and valid measurement
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- Group dynamics is a relatively young field –
talk about for many years, yet emerged in the 1940s-1950’s
- Rooted in many fields – psychology, sociology, politics anthropology, business, sport
- Many early contributors – Gustave Le Bon “Psychology of the Crowd” – when rational people do irrational things, Durkheim “Collective Representation” – e.g. symbols such as a wedding ring, Freud “Repressed Drives”
- Norman Triplett (1898) – social facilitation
- Kurt Lewin was instrumental in the advancement of the field (believed in group level analysis)
- Was a gestalt psychologist who founded the Research Ctr. on Group Dynamics at MIT
Creating the Field
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Floyd Allport – “actions of all are nothing more than the sum of actions taken separately
- Groups Fallacy – explaining a group as a whole and limiting an individual level analysis (e.g., emotional contagion or group mind)
- Ex. the group is energized today
- Individuals can think and feel and many can do it at a similar time, but groups as a whole cannot (Allport, 1962)
Assumptions
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Assumptions (cont’d)
The Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)
The tendency to overestimate the causal influence of dispositional factors that underemphasize the causal influence of situational factors
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- Groups are more than the sum of their parts
- Lewin’s (1951) field theory: behavior is a function of the person and the environment
- B = f(P, E).
Assumptions (cont’d)
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- Lewin did not just want to describe groups, but to study situations that bring about change
- Action research: integrates theory and applied research and shares experimental methods guidelines.
- “a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action” (Lewin, 1946)
Creating the Field
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- Theory – is the framework
- Research – validates or disconfirms theory, which leads to refinement
- Practice/Application – new theory & research
- Brought a systematic approach to the field Topics: group formation, cohesion, structure, influence, performance, conflict, etc.
Action Research
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- Under what conditions does a change in leadership tend to occur?
- What conditions inhibits a group’s creativity?
- What conditions bring about uniformity in thinking (i.e., group think)
- What conditions increase productivity or reduces productivity?
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Multi-Level Perspective
- Examining group behaviour from several different levels of analysis:
- Micro-Level – qualities, attributes, actions of individual members
- Meso-Level – group level factors – size of group, cohesiveness, structure, norms
- Macro-Level – larger group qualities such as: communities, societies
- Interdisciplinary Perspective (crossing levels)
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Reliability
- Reliability is synonymous with consistency. It is the degree to which test scores for an individual test taker or group of test takers are precise and consistent over repeated applications.
- No psychological test is completely consistent, however, a measurement that is unreliable is worthless.
For Example
A student receives a score of 100 on one intelligence tests and
114 in another or imagine that every time you stepped on a
scale it showed a different weight.
Would you keep using these measurement tools?
- The consistency of test scores is critically important in determining whether a test can provide good measurement.
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Internal Consistency
- Measures the reliability of a test solely on the number of items on the test and the intercorrelation among the items. Therefore, it compares each item to every other item.
- If a scale is measuring a construct, then overall the items on that scale should be highly correlated with one another.
- Inter-Item and Item-Total Correlations – the correlation of the item with the remainder of the items
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Test-Retest Reliability
- Test-retest reliability is usually measured by computing the correlation coefficient between scores of two administrations.
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Inter Rater Reliability
- Whenever you use humans as a part of your measurement procedure, you have to worry about whether the results you get are reliable or consistent.
- People are notorious for their inconsistency. We are easily distracted We get tired of doing repetitive tasks. We misinterpret.
- Interrater reliability means that if two different raters scored the scale using the scoring rules, they should attain the same result.
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Validity
- Refers to measuring what we intend to measure.
- If math and vocabulary truly represent intelligence then a math and vocabulary test might be said to have high validity when used as a measure of intelligence.
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Predictive Validity
- The extent to which scores on the scale are related to, and predictive of, some future outcome that is of practical utility.
e.g., If higher scores on the SAT are positively correlated
with higher G.P.A.’s and visa versa, then the SAT is
said to have predictive validity.
- The Predictive Validity of the SAT is mildly supported by the relation of that scale with performance in graduate school.
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- Tests that are reliable are not necessarily valid or predictive.
- If the reliability of a psychological measure increases, the validity of the measure is also expected to increase.
– from the MSCEIT Manual
Relationship Between Reliability & Validity
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Self-Report Methods
- Self-report measures: group members describe their perceptions and experiences
- Examples: Individual Assessments
– Personality
– Emotions & Emotional Intelligence (self report & ability)
– Group Assessments
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Personality : Mackinnon (1959)
- Personality refers to “factors” inside people that explain their behavior
- The sum total of typical ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that makes a person unique.
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- Two Main Personality Theories
- 1. Trait theory: people differ based on stable attributes (called “traits”)
- characteristics lie on a continuum
- e.g., the Big Five
- 2. Type theory: people can be sorted into categories (either one type or the other)
- There are many different personality inventories that measure traits or types
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The Big Five
- OCEAN
- Openness to Experience
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
- e.g. – NEO, CPI, 16PF
- Page 95 of your textbook
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The NEO
- Example Neuroticism facet: Anxiety
- I am not a worrier.
- I am easily frightened.
- I rarely feel fearful or anxious.
- I often feel tense and jittery.
- I am seldom apprehensive about the future.
- I often worry about things that might go wrong.
- I have fewer fears than most people.
- Frightening thoughts sometimes come into my head.
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Emotions
- Is a positive or negative experience generally in reaction to stimuli that are accompanied by physiological arousal and characteristic behavior
- Experiences giving color, meaning, and intensity to life
- Darwin – inherent through natural selection (adaptation to survive and desire to reproduce)
- Approach vs. Avoidance
- To escape life threatening experiences
- How are emotions beneficial to group dynamics?
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Emotions are evolved signals about relationships (and, hence, universal)
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Basic Emotions
- Are emotions that are innate and universal, automatic and fast, and trigger behaviours with a high survival value.
- Basic emotions evolved in response to the challenges faced by human ancestors and are so primitive as to be “hardwired.“
- happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, disgust)
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Self-Conscious Emotions
- Are emotions that relate to our sense of self in response to others’ reactions to us
- Perceived or actual
- Most prevalent are – shame, guilt, embarrassment, and pride
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Overview of Terms
Feeling – subjective representation of emotions
Affect – refers to pattern of observable behaviours associated with emotions (e.g. facial expression, voice pitch).
Mood – refers to a pervasive and sustained emotional response that can influence a person’s perception of the world (e.g. depressed mood) – more diffuse than an emotion and unknown causes
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Overview of Terms
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The ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action.
(Salovey and Mayer, 1990)
Page 275 of Your Textbook
Definition of Emotional Intelligence
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Models of EI
Recognition
Regulation
Self-Awareness
Social Awareness
Self-Management
Relationship Management
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Trait/Mixed Self-Report EQ Items
- I know how to deal with upsetting problems.
- It’s fairly easy for me to express feelings.
- I’m in touch with my emotions.
- I’m unable to show affection.
- I feel sure of myself in most situations.
- I have strong impulses that are hard to control.
- Even when upset, I’m aware of what’s happening to It’s hard for me to face unpleasant things.
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MSCEIT Ability Model of Emotional Intelligence
FACILITATE/USING
UNDERSTAND
MANAGE
PERCEIVE/IDENTIFY
Emotional
Intelligence
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1 2 3 4 5
1. No Happiness
1 2 3 4 5
2. No Fear
Extreme
Happiness
Extreme
Fear
How much is each feeling below expressed by this face?
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Ken and Andy have been good friends for over 10 years. Recently however, Andy was promoted and became Ken’s manager. Ken felt that the new promotion had changed Andy in that Andy had become very bossy to him. How effective would Ken be in maintaining a good relationship, if he chose to respond in each of the following ways?
Response 1: Ken tried to understand Andy’s new role and tried to adjust to the changes in their interactions.
Response 2: Ken approached Andy and confronted him regarding the change in his behavior.
a. Very ineffective b. Somewhat ineffective c. Neutral
d. Somewhat effective e. Very effective
a. Very ineffective b. Somewhat ineffective c. Neutral
d. Somewhat effective e. Very effective
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Group Assessments
- Group Environmental Questionnaire (GEQ)
- Campbell Organizational Survey (COS)
- Benchmark of Organizational Emotional Intelligence (BOEI)
- Group level self report assessments are generally micro and meso level analysis
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Group Assessments
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Self-report measures: group members describe their perceptions and experiences
Example: Moreno’s sociometry method
A Sociogram
In
Out
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Sociometry
A research technique created by Jacob Moreno (1934) that graphically summarizes patterns of intermember relations (and rejections) – Who do you like? What is your experience with that person?
- Sociometric structures:
– stars (populars) – well liked, pick by many
– unpopulars (Rejecteds) – not well like, not picked by many
– isolates (neglecteds) – are more independent, not selected by many people
– sociable (amiables/positives) – select many others to interact with
– negatives (unsociables) – select few people to interact with
– pairs (couples or dyads) – two members who like each other and have
reciprocal bonds
– clusters (clique members) – subgroup
– gatekeepers – control the follow of information to and between groups
- Sociogram is a graphical representation of sociometry
- Social Network Analysis – is set of procedures studying the relational structure of groups mathematically and graphically
- Highly cohesive groups contain substantial proportions of reciprocity and very few isolated members
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Social network analysis
Doc
Lou
Alex
Joe
Frank
Tommy
Carl
Nutsy
Long
John
Mike
Danny
Angelo
Fred
Disadvantage of Self-Report Tests
- Social Desirability
- Faking “Good”
- Faking “Bad”
- Random Responding
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- William Foote White’s study of “corner boys” in Street Corner Society
- Types:
- Overt
- Covert
- Participant
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Issue: Hawthorne Effects
Long
John
Doc
Danny
Angelo
Mike
Nutsy
Frank
Fred
Carl
Alec
Joe
Lou
Tommy
Bill
What Methods Do Researchers Use to Measure Individual and Group Processes?
- Observational measures: observing and recording events
- Example: William Foote Whyte’s participant observation of corner gangs (published the book Street Corner Society in 1943)
- Overt vs. covert observation – W.F. Whyte started off in covert observation, but ended being overt
- Participant observation – offered insight into the internal structure of the gang
- Hawthorne effect – Western Electrical Company – Hawthorne Works plant (Mayo, 1945)
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What Methods Do Researchers Use?
- Both Qualitative and Quantitative (structured observational) measures
- Bales’s Interaction Process Analysis (IPA) classifies behaviors into two categories: task and relationship behaviors
- Each word and sentence that someone uses in communication are known as units
- Increases objectivity
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Types:
Qualitative vs. Quantitative (structured)
Example: Robert Freed Bales Interaction Process Analysis system
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An in-depth analysis of one or more groups based on interviews, observation, analysis of archival documents, and so on.
Example: Irving Janis’s analysis of groupthink
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Key Ingredients:
- Manipulate one or more independent variables
- Measure one or more dependent variables
- Control other variables, as much as possible
Example: Lewin, Lippitt, & White’s leadership study
Strength: Causal inference
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Key Ingredients:
- Measure two or more variables
- Assess the strength of the relationship between the variables
Example: Newcomb’s Bennington Study
Called “correlational” studies because the findings are often expressed in the form of a correlational coefficient
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Key Characteristics of, and Differences Between Case, Experimental, and Correlational Studies of Group Processes
- Case studies: atypical of most groups, subjective, stimulate theory
- Experiments: too artificial, not “real” groups, but clearest test of cause and effect
- Correlational studies: limited information about causality but precise estimates of the strength of relationships, less artificial, fewer ethical concerns
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Example: Social exchange theory
Satisfaction
Level
Quality of Alternatives
Investment Size
Commitment Level
Stay?
Example: Input-Process-Output Model of Group Performance
Example: Group Referent Effect
The relationship between perceptional/ inferential processes and group-level processes
Brain regions recruited during social rejection
Biological perspectives, such as evolutionary theory, argue that some group behaviors may be rooted in physiological and neurological processes.
Anterior insula
