Understanding the group process

1. Understanding the group process

2. How well you understand others makes all the difference in your relationships with them. • Dimensions - Communication • Participation • Decision making

3. Communication • Who talks? For how long? How often? • At whom do people look at when they speak? • Who talks after whom, or who interrupts whom? • What style of communication is used (assertions, questions, tone of voice, gestures, etc.)?

4. Participation • Who are the high participators? Who are the low participators? • Do you see any shift in participation (e.g., highs become quiet; lows suddenly become talkative). What are possible reasons for this in the group’s interactions? • How are the silent people treated? How is their silence interpreted (e.g., consent, disagreement, disinterest, fear, etc.)? • Who talks to whom? Do you see any reason for this in the group’s interactions?

5. Decision making • Does anyone make a decision and carry it out without checking with other group members • Who supports other members’ suggestions or decisions? Does this support result in the two members deciding the topic or activity for the group? How does this affect the other group members? • Is there any attempt to get all members participating in a decision (consensus)? By whom? • Does anyone make any contributions which do not receive any kind of response or recognition? Why?

6. Process • New Comers • Isolation • Rejection • Group bond • Sub-groups

7. New Comers • A newcomer is someone who has recently joined a group.

8. Isolation • Isolation is an actual physical isolation from other people, • generally avoiding contact with other people • For example, • feeling depressed, • inadequate, or anxious can lead us to isolate; isolation can then increase feelings of loneliness and depression, • fear of other people, or a negative self-image.

9. Rejection • Social rejection occurs when an individual is deliberately excluded from a social relationshipor social interaction for social rather than practical reasons. • rejection can lead to a number of adverse psychological consequences such as  • Loneliness • low self – esteem • Aggression • Depression

10. Group bond • something that binds a person or persons to a certain circumstance or line of behavior • something that binds, fastens, confines, or holds together • something, as an agreement or friendship, that unites individuals or peoples into a group

11. Sub-groups • A distinct group within a group • subgroups allow members to meet and interact within more focused areas in smaller groups