Crazy Eights Group Processes Blog

     Groups are essential to everyday life. Everyone is involved in multiple groups and sometimes people may not even know they are in a certain group when they actually are. Groups provide a sense of belonging, and this can shape one's identity. In groups, individuals can share responsibilities, ideas, and skills, making complex tasks more manageable and efficient. Groups also offer support and encouragement, especially in challenging situations, fostering resilience and mental well-being. Through groups, people can learn from each other, broaden their perspectives, and work towards common goals that may be difficult or impossible to achieve alone. Additionally, group settings encourage communication and collaboration, which are valuable in both personal and professional contexts. Groups allow individuals to be part of something larger than themselves, promoting growth, learning, and shared achievement.

    There are four types of groups: primary groups, social groups, collectives, and categories. Primary groups are the people you are closest to. They include family members and your closest friends. "These groups profoundly influence the behavior, feelings, and judgements of their members (Forsyth, 2019, p. 5)." Family as a group plays a big role in shaping one's identity because one learns under them and spends most of their childhood with them where morals and standard are taught. While one can't choose their group when it comes to family, one can choose their group when it comes to their close friends. A person chooses their groups of friends when they share the same qualities and ideals. People interact with these friends for long periods of time, and they share many experiences with each other. These friends will be there for you when times are rough and can be a new source of family as well. Primary groups shape who you are and are a vital part of one's life. Social groups include coworkers, teams, and any crews one might be working with. "Social groups are larger and more formally organized than primary groups, and memberships tend to be shorter in duration and less emotionally involving (Forsyth, 2019, p. 6)." While these groups are less emotionally involving, it is important that they still work as a team because in the workforce they are trying to reach a major goal. These social groups also could include participating on a team or in a religious group. A collective is a gathering of individuals for an experience. This could be people gathered to watch a movie or sporting event. It could also be a group of individuals who are joined together for a movement. These groups quickly come to an end though because once the event or movement is over the people leave and that same group will never meet again. "A social category is a collection of individuals who are similar to one another in some way (Forsyth, 2019, p. 7)." This group could be one who shares the same race, sexuality, or gender. Often times these groups share similar qualities or ideals but are much larger in scale. These groups are an individual's social identity and are the makeup of who one is. Since these groups are larger in scale, this can lead to stereotypes about people which isn't always a good thing because sometimes this can lead to division. To sum it up, all people fall into every one of these groups in some way or another and they play a major role in an individual's life.

    One of the key factors of a group is structure. A factor of this structure is norms. Some norms are put into place when the group is started, while others are created as time goes on. Norms are a group's standards and protocols. "They provide direction and motivation, organize social interactions, and make other people's responses predictable and meaningful (Forsyth, 2019, p. 158)." without norms, it would be difficult for a group to achieve goals because there would be no standards, and you would have some people in the group doing one thing while others doing a completely different thing. It is imperative that a group has norms because groups need them to be on the same page, while also abiding by all the rules they put into place. The interactions between people as time goes on with a group also plays a role in deciding some of these norms as well. Another key factor of structure is roles. While members of a group are required to follow the norms, they are able to act in their own unique way when it comes to roles. Roles are assigned to each member of a group to in turn achieve something as a whole. Each person is required to fulfill their role for the betterment of the group, and if they don't the group might not achieve what they are wanting to. As they say, you are only as strong as your weakest link. "People who fulfill a task role focus on the group's goals and on the member's attempts to support one another as they work (Forsyth, 2019, p. 165)." Roles give each individual of the group a chance to achieve something on their own for the overall greater of the group. It gives each individual their own unique way to help the group, and when all brought together something great is accomplished. Some roles of the group are bigger like group leader, but none of the roles are to be overlooked because if one person doesn't fulfill their role then the whole group can't succeed. These are two of the biggest factors of structure within a group and without them a group would have much trouble achieving their end goal.