We have socialized within groups (family, school, etc.) and in adult life (work teams, friends). In addition, our gender, age, culture and nationality also place us within a series of broader groups..
For the psychologist, it is of great importance to be aware of the group membership that everyone carries with them and the consequences of such membership.
A person, while still being himself, can behave differently when acting individually or in the various groups to which he belongs.
Every group implies the following characteristics:
The creation of group norms: (Sherif) - Interaction within groups tends to create norms and these norms subsequently influence individuals.
Experiment on the autokinetic effect: In a dark environment, there is a tendency to perceive movement in a luminous point, although this point actually remains immobile. When the perceptions of different people are compared, it is observed that the criterion of each one tends to converge to a group criterion.
The tendency to conformity: (Asch) - It is observed the influence that the majority exerts on the individual even if it is wrong. Faced with a group that is unanimously wrong, the person tends to express agreement on a relatively high percentage of occasions.
The group as an agent of change of attitudes (Newcomb) - It is about studying the influence of the group on the socio-political attitudes of its members.
Upper-middle-class women from conservative families who, upon reaching liberal universities, changed their way of thinking were studied..
The line of research based on the minimum group: When it is achieved that people are considered (categorized) as members of a group, even under unimportant criteria, endogroup favoritism immediately occurs.
Experiment with a group of people in 2 phases:
Phase 1: Identify predilection for Klee or Kandinsky (two painters). From choosing one or the other, two groups are formed.
Phase 2: Assign monetary rewards through a booklet to anonymous subjects with whom there was no real contact and who were identified only by their group membership (predilection for Klee or Kandinsky).
Result: Participants demonstrated endogroup favoritism when trying to benefit members of their own preferred group (those who preferred Klee assigned higher rewards to anonymous subjects who also preferred Klee. The same was true for Kandinsky).
From these works the importance of group influence becomes evident. However, this influence takes various forms that we will see below:
When we are not sure which is the correct answer in a certain situation we try to observe what others are doing and do the same assuming that it will be the correct thing to do. (Sherif's experiment discussed above is an example of this). In addition, informational influence is related to pluralistic ignorance.
The individual conforms to the opinion or norm of the group in order to maintain good relations with others, due to the basic reason for belonging. The Asch and Newcomb experiments are an example of this..
Groups are not static. They are created in a moment, they evolve and on many occasions they end up disappearing or transforming into different groups.
Worchel, Coutant-Sassic and Grossman propose a cyclical model of group development in 6 stages:
Discontent phase: We start from the previous existence of a group. In this group, some of its members believe that their interests or ideas are not well represented and they begin to be uncomfortable. (political party in which some of its members do not agree with the project.
Triggering event: Event that exacerbates tensions and causes group division. (elaboration of an electoral program with which a part of the militants does not agree)
Group identification: It is the first phase in the formation of a new group. Its main objective is to achieve a shared social identity among its members and to be able to establish differences with other groups. Unity is sought, there is a strong pressure towards conformity.
Group productivity: The group focuses on achieving its goals. Conflict with other groups is lessened and discrepancies within the group are tolerated.
Individuation: Group cohesion begins to decrease and subgroups begin to appear. Participation of minority members is encouraged and less work is done for group goals and more for personal ones.
Decline: The group is less important to individuals. Some of its members leave while others demand changes in the group. If these changes are not accepted, the model will go to the first stage (discontent phase) and the cycle will start over..
Cohesion as attraction
Shaw points out 5 possible causes why people may be drawn to the groups they are a part of:
Cohesion and categorization
From the theory of the categorization of the self (Turner), it is argued that people can consider ourselves, depending on the circumstances, as individuals or as members of a group.
When we consider ourselves members of a group there are several important effects:
- We tend to see the members of our group similar to us and to each other (endogroup similarity) and we tend to increase the existing differences with the members of other groups (ex-group differentiation).
- Endogroup favoritism occurs, which consists of having a more positive attitude towards members of one's own group than towards members of the outgroup.
- We perceive the world in "group" terms. This means that the people who make up the endogroup are no longer seen as individuals but as members of the group..
Cohesion is related to the intragroup attraction that people experience towards members of their own group. On many occasions, interpersonal attraction and intragroup attraction coincide. However, on other occasions there may be intragroup attraction, and therefore cohesion, without there being knowledge or interpersonal relationships with the majority of the members of our group..
Therefore we can define a cohesive group as a group in which its members are strongly identified through a process of categorization of the self, and thus, manifest in varying degrees intragroup attraction, ethnocentrism, normative behaviors and intergroup differentiation. According to this, cohesion will increase in those circumstances in which group membership becomes important, such as in a situation of conflict with another group..
Many decisions are made in a group. For this reason, it is important to study the processes that are generated in the groups when making certain decisions..
Groupthink
This concept tries to explain why sometimes certain groups, despite being made up of highly qualified people, make bad decisions and are far from reality. (as an example the maintenance of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor)
This concept was coined by Janis to refer to a way of thinking that occurs in cohesive groups when members' efforts to maintain unanimity outweigh the motivation to realistically evaluate alternative courses of action..
Among the antecedents of groupthink are:
Among the symptoms of groupthink we can point out:
- Overestimation of the group, which would be given by the illusion of invulnerability.
- Mental closure
- Pressures toward uniformity
Among the failures in decision making:
- Consideration only, of the alternative and the initially preferred objectives
- Insufficient analysis of the possible risks of choice
- Biases in Election Processing.
- Do not develop alternative plans.
Janis proposes a series of measures that can contribute to making groupthink more difficult: creating diverse subgroups that separately evaluate the alternatives, promoting the impartiality of the leader, etc. Finally, Janis suggests that after reaching a preliminary consensus on the alternative to follow, it is convenient to hold a second meeting..
It occurs when two groups, societies or nations perceive that their objectives, intentions and / or actions are mutually incompatible.
Low-intensity and high-intensity conflicts are distinguished: In low-intensity conflicts, competition does not cover all aspects of relationships between groups. But if the situation is not resolved soon, there is a risk that the internal dynamics itself will cause the conflict to become highly intense..
Campbell (1965) - Argues that intergroup conflict is caused by a real competition between groups in order to access scarce resources.
Realistic theories of conflict share 3 basic premises:
1 - That the human being is selfish and tries to obtain the greatest possible benefits
2 - That the conflict arises when incompatible interests are at stake
3 - That the psychosocial processes that accompany the conflict (negative attitudes, hostility, etc.) arise from the existence of opposing interests and not the other way around.
From this perspective, there is the belief that conflict is something negative and that therefore it should be avoided..
Sherif's works: He showed that competition between groups produces negative attitudes, prejudices and hostile behaviors towards members of the other group.
Table 13.2 Sherif's experiments on conflict between groups
Experiment in summer camps. 2 different groups. At the beginning, each group independently carried out a series of tasks to consolidate group cohesion. Subsequently, they went to competitive games in which only one of the groups could be the winner..
From the competitive games, within the group there was an increase in solidarity while in the relationships with the other group negative and hostile attitudes were generated.
Finally, ways were sought to reduce the conflict. The only effective measure for this were the “superordinate goals” that consisted of a series of tasks in which the two groups had to necessarily collaborate if they wanted to be successful..
Disadvantaged groups, despite their inequality of resources, do not always conflict with the dominant group, but, on the contrary, on many occasions negatively view the group itself and accept unequal distribution as legitimate.
All of us try to achieve and maintain a positive social identity. This identity is formed by those aspects of the individual's self-concept that come from the social categories (groups) to which they belong. This positive social identity is achieved by making comparisons between the group itself and other relevant groups. People do not hesitate to favor their own group to the detriment of the outgroup.
Other key concepts:
Social Mobility: In a given society, beliefs of social mobility predominate when the people who live in it are convinced that it is possible to change groups or social categories easily when their group of origin fails to satisfy their need for a positive social identity..
Social change: When people perceive that leaving their group is almost impossible.
Different types of intergroup conflict can arise from these concepts:
Each strategy has its advantages and disadvantages
Individual mobility:
Advantages: You can avoid intergroup conflict.
Disadvantages: Individual mobility destroys the solidarity of the subordinate group and does not provide a solution against negative social identity for the group as a whole.
Social Creativity:
Advantage: You can avoid conflict and restore a positive group identity
Disadvantage: No matter how much social creativity is used, the disadvantaged group will continue to be in a disadvantaged position.
The SIT (Social Identity Theory) is a psychosocial theory of intergroup conflict that has a wider scope than the realistic theory of conflict. Explain when and under what conditions resource inequality will give rise to intergroup conflict.
Developed by Taylor and McKirnan. It is very difficult to verify empirically. Societies are assumed to be stratified, with high and low status groups always in them. Relations between groups always go through 5 stages whose duration is impossible to foresee and depends on the specific historical circumstances and the dynamics of each group relationship. The transition from one stage to another occurs from processes of causal attribution and processes of social comparison.
The 5 stages that intergroup relationships go through are the following:
Once at this point, the intergroup conflict can end in 3 possible ways:
a) If the power relationship between the subordinate and the dominant group cannot be changed, it would return to stage II and the cycle would continue again.
b) The dominated group can turn the tables. Then it would also return to stage II but they are a reversal of roles between the two groups.
c) Groups can achieve relative equality of power. It is what is known as "a healthy state of social competition".
Bar-Tal (1995) - Intractable conflicts have the following characteristics:
As many of you may have already imagined, a clear example of this type of conflict is that it takes place between Arabs and Israelis..
Any society involved in one of these conflicts needs to develop a series of military, political, economic and psychological mechanisms to help it successfully cope with the situation..
Table 13.3 Beliefs held by a group (or nation) involved in an intractable conflict:
Societal beliefs serve two functions:
Cognitive function: They serve as explanations, justifications and guide for the actions taken during the conflict.
Motivational function: They inspire, motivate and give courage to group members to continue in the fight.
There are a number of requirements that contribute to effective intergroup contact:
a) That the contact is institutionally supported. Those in positions of authority must provide incentives or rewards if the proposed objectives are met. School authorities can grant more funds to schools that have best contributed to integration.
b) That the contacts are not sporadic but that they have a sufficient frequency, duration and closeness.
c) That the people who interact have a similar status
d) That the contacts take place in situations of cooperation
In an experiment carried out by Pettigrew and Tropp, the results showed that intergroup contact reduces prejudice between different groups and that the four conditions just mentioned, while increasing the effectiveness of contact, are not necessary for such contact to achieve effects. positive.
Extended contact hypothesis (Wright, Aron, McLaughlin-Volpe, Ropp): This hypothesis maintains that the mere fact of knowing or observing that a member of our group maintains a close relationship with a member of the outgroup can contribute to the improvement of attitudes intergroup.
The theory of Social Identity maintains that endogroup favoritism is largely produced by categorization processes. These processes establish the distinction between "us" and "them". If it were possible in some way to modify these categorization processes, endogroup favoritism would also be modified..
In addition, all people belong to various social groups and to the extent that some of those belongings were common, hostility towards the individual of the other group would be reduced.
There are 3 processes that tend to reduce intergroup conflict:
1. Decategorization: That the members of the discriminated groups are perceived by the members of the majority group as individuals and not as members of a group.
2. Cross categorization: It consists of highlighting the common categories of membership that the members of two opposing groups may have. Two women from opposing political parties can soften their positions by being aware of the womanhood they share.
3. Recategorization: It consists of trying to create a new categorization that jointly encompasses the members of the outgroup and the endogroup. Gaertner and Dovidio propose the “common endogroup identity model”. The main hypothesis of this model is that if members of different groups are induced to imagine that they are part of a single group and not separate groups, attitudes towards members of the former outgroup will become more positive..
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