Psychology Report: Group Dynamics, Social Influence, and Behavior

This report examines the influence of group settings on individual behavior, focusing on both positive and negative implications. It explores social cohesion, communication patterns, and the development of courage and skills within a group. The report details a specific group setting, including its structure, composition, mission, and goals, which aim to advocate for a society free of Gender-Based Violence. It outlines the group's agenda, facilitation methods, and key issues discussed, such as gender roles and the impact of violence. The communication style, group unity, and potential for groupthink are analyzed, along with the influence of collective behaviors on members' attitudes. Finally, the report connects these observations to research on norm formation, conformity, and social influence, highlighting how group members' ideas can be swayed within the group dynamics.

Running Head: Group setting 1
Group setting
Student’s Name
Institution
Date

Group setting 2
Group setting
Group influence entails both negative and positive implications on an individual’s behavior,
(Paulus, 2015). There is social cohesion in group members where members who share interests,
values, ethnic backgrounds, religion or representations are brought together with a common goal.
Through interaction with people in a group, people gain diverse experiences. Communication
skills develop through individual contributions to the group, courage is built up and members
learn the process of coming up with a group and its characteristics. The group behaviors and
communication patterns influence social facilitation through activation, paying attention to
theories and evaluation, (Paulus, 2015). Social facilitation is identified through improved
performance as a result of the presence of others. Social facilitation enables a person to do better
in small task when other people are watching and people can get motivation from a new
perspective.
In the physical environment, the people were arranged in an interaction set up. In this type of
seating arrangement, there is great facilitation of interaction, (Kasandrova, 2016). A hollow
square style was used in the room set up. Through this style, all the group members were into
direct eye contact with each other which enabled a more natural construct to communicate as an
entire unit. The composition of the group included the young, aged 14 to 19 years, the young
adults aged 20 to 35 years and those aged from 36 to 40 years. Both men and women were
included in the groups, in the same ratio. The education background was different and all of them
were of the same ethnicity.
A group's purpose, mission, and goal are known through the group's mission statement.
According to Aird, (2019). The group's mission shall be to advocate of a society free of Gender-
Based Violence and full of equality. the vision of the group is to create a community free of

Group setting 3
Gender-Based Violence. The goals of the group shall be boosting societal roles, improving the
status of both men and women, Explore the issues affecting both men and women, provide
solutions to Gender-Based violence and strengthen relationships in the society of all ages.
The duration of the group shall be long term. This is because the research process involves data
collection, data sampling, data analysis and coming up with the conclusions. It is a slow process
that involves the analysis of the research question, /problem, designing the research project,
collecting data in this case based on focus groups, interpreting data, data analysis, and reporting
the findings of the research, (Neil, Hanton, Fleming, & Wilson, 2013). The most time-consuming
process is data collection because various sampling techniques must be used to obtain data from
the community which is done at the pace of the respondents.
The group structured itself with an agenda. The agenda was based on the topic of discussion. In
the first meeting, the members shall be let to know each other through self-introduction, set a
schedule for how often the group shall be meeting, and then establish goals. Out of the group,
every member shall know how their social gender roles are affected by gender-based violence,
the contributing factors to gender-based violence and how this issue can be solved, ("Where
comic ideas come from (and how to cultivate them)," 2018). Everyone is expected to give
feedback in a supportive environment and even use writing skills to give information. Everyone
shall embark on a common group's ambition.
The group is organized by having questions to guide it in the subtopics of the main topic, "How
to Organize Your Persuasive Presentation," 2019). These questions are written where people are
supposed to fill in the answers. some questions are answered orally after they are asked by the
group's facilitators. The group was organized through coaching structures, through

Group setting 4
communication by the leaders and also through attendance meetings. Every member was kept on
track and things were written down to avoid forgetfulness.
The primary facilitators of the group are the trainers, who shall be identified to offer knowledge-
based on gender-based violence. Their role shall be controlling the group and leading it in a way
towards meeting its mission statement, vision, and goals. They use talking instruments and
allows every group member to answer the questions at hand.
During the meeting, the primary issues identified were the various gender roles in society and
how these roles have not been met due to gender-based violence, (Kolb, 2011). The extent of
gender-based violence was discussed in detail. The information that members exchanged during
the meeting is about the various incidences that members have witnessed gender-based violence
and how it impacted the parties involved. It was discussed whether, after such incidences, the
members were able to perform their gender roles. It was discussed whether the gender roles were
well defined in the society and on which basis.
The group's communication style was in a wheel, (Conyne, 2013). There was completeness,
concreteness, courtesy, clarity, conciseness, and creativity of every member. Both verbal and
non-verbal cues were used in communication between the group members and their facilitator. In
the case of written communication, papers were filled in and passed on to team leaders for
analysis.
The group was unified. This is because members actively involved in giving responses to
questions and every member's view was listened to. Members targeted on the progressiveness of
the group under all circumstances, ("signs of a unified group Search,"). Seeking information and
clarification was freely done by every member who felt like in an orderly manner. No one

Group setting 5
seemed superior to the other irrespective of age or gender. All questions to be addressed were
given to every group member. Responding to queries was done consistently and freely by
everyone.
The members shared their identity. This was done at the start of the meeting and during breaks,
group members were seen mingling with each other freely and establishing contacts, (McKeown,
2013). This was a big sign of a unified group.
There was no sign that members were vulnerable to groupthink. No one used to ignore
alternatives or take irrational actions to dehumanize a member. There was no insulation from
outside opinions and there were well-defined rules for decision making. This is because they all
behaved as people of the same age. They exchanged their views randomly and corrections could
be done where members felt unsatisfied, ("vulnerability to groupthink Search,"). Even if group
members were influenced, the influence was positive and not biased. No one hind their identity
during group sessions, every member had a name tag, visible to everyone.
The collective group behaviors influenced the attitude of members and the group's effectiveness.
Members adhered to the group rules and regulations set before a common purpose. Some
members were easily influenced to change their ideas and stand towards the underlying issues.
The unruly members were sanctioned and everybody had to conform to its rules. Every member
idea was listened to Members developed a positive attitude of sharing information through self-
expression, gained the courage to stand in front of many people. through collective group
behaviors, members shared their ideas and through the lead questions, they reached a common
solution towards a single question.

Group setting 6
My research observations relate to research studies on norm formation, conformity, and social
influence because in small groups, there is a more conformity process where members adhere to
the established norms and those who do not conform to the norms are sanctioned. Many
members in a group conform to the norms that are established during the group forming process.
These norms are formed through the convergence of the members, where every member's view
towards the group consensus is welcomed. Through this research observation, I noticed that
members can be easily influenced to change their ideas. This is in line with research studies
where we study that group members change their views so that they can meet the demands of
their social group. This can be a result of the perceived authority, the wielding influence of the
group to the minority and the weight of the ideas given. In groups, some members get influenced
regularly.

Group setting 7
s
References
Aird, P. (2019). Mission, Mission Statement. Deepwater Drilling, 3-15. doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-
102282-5.00001-6
Conyne, R. K. (2013). Group Work Leadership: An Introduction for Helpers. Thousand Oaks,
CA: SAGE Publications.
How to Organize Your Persuasive Presentation. (2019). doi:10.4135/9781529702835
Kasandrova, Z. (2016). EDUCATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SCHOOL CLASS AS
EXPERIENCES, EVENTS, SET-UP AND DESIGN. GISAP:Educational Sciences, (9).
doi:10.18007/gisap:es.v0i9.1291
Kolb, J. (2011). Small Group Facilitation. Human Resource Development.
McKeown, S. (2013). Identity, Segregation and Peace-building in Northern Ireland: A Social
Psychological Perspective. Basingstoke, England: Springer.
Neil, R., Hanton, S., Fleming, S., & Wilson, K. (2013). The Research Process in Sport,
Exercise and Health: Case Studies of Active Researchers. London, England: Routledge.
Paulus, P. B. (2015). Psychology of Group Influence: Second Edition. London, England:
Psychology Press.
Signs of a unified group Search. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?
q=signs+of+a+unified+group&oq=signs+of+a+unified+group&aqs=chrome..69i57.2114
9j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Group setting 8
vulnerability to group think Search. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?
q=vulnerability+to+group+think&oq=vulnerability+to+group+think&aqs=chrome..69i5
7j33.7862j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Where comic ideas come from (and how to cultivate them). (2018). A Director’s Guide to the
Art of Stand-up. doi:10.5040/9781350035553.0009