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Group Formation

The Impressionists

Henri Fantin-Latour’s A Studio at Batignolles featuring Manet (seated), Renoir (framed), Zola, Bazille, and Monet (hidden in the back).

ImpressionistsFrédéric Bazille Mary Cassatt Gustave Caillebotte Paul Cezanne Edgar Degas Armand Guillaumin Édouard ManetClaude Monet Berthe Morisot Camille Pissarro Pierre-Auguste Renoir Theodore Robinson Alfred SisleyVincent Van Gogh

Degas

ManetRenoir

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ImpressionistsFrédéric Bazille Mary Cassatt Gustave Caillebotte Paul Cezanne Edgar Degas Armand Guillaumin Édouard ManetClaude Monet Berthe Morisot William McGregor

Paxton Camille Pissarro Pierre-Auguste Renoir Theodore Robinson Alfred Sisley

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What Factors Determine When a Group

Will Form? People: joining with others in a group depends on

individuals' personal qualities, including traits, social motives, and gender.

Situations: some situations prompt people to affiliate with one another, including

– Ambiguous, dangerous situations

– Tasks and goals that can only be achieved by collaborating with others

Relationships: groups form when individuals find they like one another.

Who Joins Groups and Who Remains

Apart?

Personality– Introversion-extraversion: extraverts are drawn

to other people and groups and introverts avoid them (extraverts tend to be happier individuals)

– Relationality: individuals who adopt values, attitudes, and outlooks that emphasize and facilitate connections with others seek out group memberships

Who Joins Groups and Who Remains Apart?

Social motivation – Need for affiliation– Need for intimacy– Need for power– Fundamental Interpersonal Relations

Orientation (FIRO) theory: Individuals’ need to receive and express inclusion, control, and affection influences group-seeking tendencies

Who Joins Groups and Who Remains Apart?

Prior experiences in groups

Attachment style– Secure– Avoidant– Anxious

Sex differences in joining groups

When and Why Do People Seek Out

Others?

Affiliation and social comparison

Ambiguous, confusing circumstances

Psychological reaction

Negative emotionsUncertaintyNeed for information

Affiliation and social comparison with others

Cognitive Clarity

Social comparison: gaining information from other people’s reactions (Festinger, 1954)

When and Why Do People Seek Out

Others?

Schachter’s studies of affiliation – How do people react in an ambiguous,

frightening situation?• Misery loves company: People affiliate

with others• Misery loves miserable company:

Schachter found people prefer to wait with others facing a similar experience.

When and Why Do People Seek Out Others?

Schachter’s studies of affiliation (cont.)– Directional comparison:

• downward social comparison: bolsters sense of competence

• upward social comparison: hope and motivation

– The self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model: people affiliate with individuals who do not outperform them in areas that are very relevant to their self-esteem.

When and Why Do People Seek Out Others?

Social support

– Safety in numbers

• "fight-or-flight"

• "tend-and-befriend“

– Types of social support: approval, emotional, informational, instrumental, spiritual

Fight vs. Flight and Groups

When and Why Do People Seek Out Others?

Collaboration– Groups form when individuals seek goals that

they cannot attain working alone.• How difficult is the task?

• How complex is the task?

• How important is the task?

– Example: Gangs as a means to achieve goals

0 20 40 60 80 100

Protection

Sell drugs

Make money

Defend Neighborhood

My neighborhood

Impress neighborhood

Impress friends

Nothing to do

Buy drugs

Impress girls

Family member belongs

Use drugs

When Do Processes of Interpersonal Attraction Between Individuals Contribute to

Group Formation?

Newcomb: The acquaintance process

Principles of attraction– proximity principle: People tend to like those who are

situated near by.– elaboration principle: Groups often emerge when

groups, as complex system, grow as additional elements (people) become linked to original members.

– similarity principle: People like those who are similar to them in some way.

• homophily: similarity in attitudes, values, appearance, etc.

When Do Processes of Interpersonal Attraction Between Individuals Contribute to

Group Formation?

– complementarity principle: People like others whose qualities complement their own qualities.

– reciprocity principle: Liking tends to be mutual

– minimax principle: Individuals are attracted to groups that offer them maximum rewards and minimal costs.

When Do Processes of Interpersonal Attraction Between Individuals Contribute to

Group Formation?

Social exchange theory

– Relationships are like economic exchanges, bargains where maximum outcomes sought with minimum investment

– Satisfaction is determined by comparison level (CL)

– Value of other groups determines comparison level for alternatives (CLalt)