Group psychology: definition and functions

If we were to remember the last month, we would discover that the groups in which we have participated are many. Family, group of friends, work group, a sports team, a theater company, etc. At the same time we are also within other broader groups that we may not have remembered to include in this list.

According to social categories, we are men or women, we are members of a religious denomination or an ethnic group. Thus, We have different group identities and sometimes we interact as members of one group and not another.. The science that is responsible for studying these processes is group psychology.

Group psychology is a subdiscipline within social psychology whose main object of study is the group. To study groups, the influence they have on individual behavior and the influence that the individual has on changing group behavior is analyzed.

Thus, from the psychology of groups, what they are, how, when and where they are created, their configuration and the types of roles and relationships that are established between their elements or with other groups are explored.

What is a group?

Defining what a group is is not easy. Throughout history, multiple definitions have been given (Huici, 2012a). Among them, we can distinguish two types of definitions, the categorical definition and the dynamic definition.

According to the categorical definition (Wilder and Simon, 1998), the group is defined by shared characteristics. The members of the group have specific characteristics that they share, so The group is the sum of the members who share these characteristics. The group only exists in the minds of individuals and provides a particular vision of the world.

On the other hand, the dynamic definition (Wilder and Simon, 1998) proposes that groups emerge from the relationship between their members and the interaction between them. This interaction can cause new features to emerge, so The group is more than the sum of the individuals..

Due to the above, the characteristics of the group cannot be inferred from the characteristics of a single member, since groups emerge from interaction are easier to distinguish than categorical groups.

Why and for what purpose are groups formed?

According to Cartwright and Zander (1992), we can distinguish three types of circumstances that make individuals come to constitute a group

1. To achieve a goal

The individuals who decide to create it under this circumstance, They recognize that through it they will achieve certain purposes that would not be possible without its existence.. Although, this judgment does not have to be correct for the group to be formed.

2. To satisfy some need

In these cases the grouping is usually spontaneous. These are usually informal groups within organizations, social clubs or youth gangs. Their formation is based on voluntary interpersonal choices.

Some determinants of this type of choices are the similarity perceived in people, complementarity, reciprocity, proximity or the positive balance between advantages and disadvantages of belonging to the group.

3. To receive homogeneous treatment

In this case, a social categorization process is carried out, which consists of classify people into groups based on some shared characteristic.

Such individuals consider themselves to be members of that group, and taTheir behavior and that of others towards them will be determined by that group membership. appointed from outside.

Individuals do not need to interact with each other to be members of this type of group. Many times they don’t even know each other.

Types of groups

The groups are structured in different ways. The structure is what provides stability when it comes to organizing and relating among the members of the group. (Cartwright and Zander, 1992). This structure will also serve to differentiate ourselves as a group, that is, to be different from other groups.

Precisely, it is the structure of the group that will ensure that it is maintained and not dispersed. According to Scott and Scott (1981), groups are characterized by three structural properties:

Groups are defined by the relationship between membersa work group can be defined by the unequal relationship between the boss and the workers.The group must have structural continuity over time. For example, in a soccer team there will always be defenders, forwards and goalkeepers. Finally, group members are replaceableany member can be replaced by another person.

These structures assign roles to group members. Each role is assigned a different value. Some members are more important than others, making each member’s status different.

There is a hierarchy within the group defined by the status of each member within the group. Status differences imply patterns of prestige, deference, and submission in group members. (Blanco and Fernández Ríos, 1985), as well as the existence of a consensus regarding the hierarchical organization and the prestige granted.

Group rules

Within the structure of the group there are also norms. Every group has a common frame of reference, members share ideas about what to do and what not to do. Norms regulate the attitudes and behaviors of group members. (Sherif, 1936). These norms can be of two types: descriptive and prescriptive (Cialdini, Kallgreen and Reno, 1991).

Descriptive norms correspond to what members do in a specific situation. On these occasions, where members do not know how to behave, what the higher status members or the majority do is going to become the dominant norm.

On the other hand, prescriptive norms indicate what can be done and what cannot be done. They are moral norms that tell group members what is right and what is wrong. These norms reward behavior through rewards and punishments. They reward those who behave well and punish those who do not follow the rules.

Group Member Roles

The role that each person plays in a group is associated with their position in a group (status) and the rights and duties towards one or more members (Hare, 1994). Each role is associated with behavioral patterns within the group. This is, roles divide the tasks of members, each member has to perform different functions (Scott and Scott, 1981).

Role differentiation serves so that objectives can be achieved, to order and predict the functioning of the group and so that group members define themselves within the group itself (Brown, 2000).

Some classic roles are (Benne and Sheats, 1948) task, maintenance and individual roles.. Among the task roles, the coordinator, the evaluated, the counselor, the initiator stand out. Maintenance roles include commitment seeker, encourager, follower, observer, etc. Finally, some of the individual roles of group members are the aggressor, the blocker, the recognition seeker, and the dominant.

What is group psychology for?

Group psychology studies various fields such as leadership (Molero, 2012a), group formation and development (Gaviria, 2012), group cohesion (Molero, 2012b), influence processes in the group (Falomir- Pichastor, 2012), productivity (Gómez, 2012), decision processes (Huici, 2012b) and intergroup relations (Huici and Gómez Berrocal, 2012). While they are all important, Intergroup relations have been one of the fields with the most impact.

Intergroup relations are nothing more than the relations between different groups and between members of different groups. In the media we can see and read news about racist incidents, coexistence between religions, meetings between companies and unions, etc. They all talk about intergroup relations.

When it comes to explain what these behaviors are due to, There are two main types of explanations: those that appeal to differences between individuals – based on certain characteristics, orientations or personality traits – and those that directly focus on intergroup processes.

Individual approaches

In the individual approaches, it stands out “authoritarianism” right-wing”, which assumes that there are differences between individuals in terms of the tendency to comply with the dictates of authoritywith authoritarians being the ones who firmly believe in it.

Authoritarian people fully comply with the rules that the authority supports. Likewise, they oppose those whom authority attacks. This personality develops in adolescence and is based on previous learning of obedience, conventionality and aggression (Altemeyer, 1998).

From the orientation of social dominance, attention is paid to hierarchical relationships between groups within the social structure and to the existence within society of ideologies that favor or try to reduce hierarchical inequalities (Sidanius and Pratto 1999).

So, The existence of individual differences is assumed in terms of the tendency to legitimize inequalities and divisions in society.. Some people will support the existence of a hierarchy while others will not.

Intergroup approaches

This approach rejects the temptation to reduce the explanation of behavior to characteristics of individuals.. It is proposed that the way in which the individual transforms and begins to think, act and treat others is related to whether he belongs to some groups and not others. As a consequence, their behaviors and perceptions tend to become uniform.

All members of the group begin to think alike. There are two major theories that attempt to explain this phenomenon, namely: the theory of realistic group conflict and the perspective of social identity – it encompasses 2 theories, that of social identity and that of self-categorization.

The theory of realistic group conflict

Functional relationships are affected by the mutual goals and interests of the groups. They focus, therefore, on cooperative or competitive relationships to achieve goals or resources, that is, on cooperative or competitive interdependence.

Intergroup conflict (Sherif and Sherif, 1979) is produced by the existence of incompatible goals and gives rise to hostility and intergroup discrimination. When two groups want the same thing they will have two possibilities to achieve it, compete or cooperate.

The perspective of…