Discovering the Leader of a Group

Hypothesis: In the Southminster Church Youth group there will be multiple leaders of
smaller groups. Yet, overall in the group there will be one person who dictates the whole
group's actions. This will probably be based on how long they have been doing the
musical, age, and leadership personality. If a topic is brought up to the whole group,
then everyone in the group will look to the leader for approval before acting, because
that person has the highest status and others look to them for guidance and do not want
to act out of line.
Independent variable: I or another teen there brought up a new idea to the group.
Dependent variable: The reaction of the group to the idea being brought up.
Subjects: The targets for this experiment were the leader of the group and their closest
friends. I also looked at the smaller leaders of other groups and how they responded to
the main leader.

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Procedure:
Observe and identify the smaller cliques of the group.
Identify the leaders of these cliques.
When the group is all together bring up an idea or new topic.
Observe the reaction of the small clique leaders to lead towards the leader of the whole
group.
Once the main leaders is identified, observe how they control the group.
Also observe how others react to him/her and if power ever shifts.
Record findings and analyze.
Leader of Groups Observations: I found that Mckenzie, Rory, Grayson, and myself
were smaller leaders of different groups. After musical rehearsal was done, everyone
would gather into smaller groups to get food and talk. By just talking to each group
individually I could figure out who the leader was by how and when the conversation
changed, and who received the highest status in the group.
Knowing this, when the group came back together for snacks, and the idea of
playing a game was brought up to the group and Rory and Mckenzie glanced at
Grayson before giving their approval for the game. Throughout the game, Grayson and
his friends decided who would be the next group of hiders.
Yet when the leaders such as McKenzie and myself got tired of playing we
stopped and hung out in the back with our friends and ignoring what Grayson was
doing. What was also interesting was that Grayson would sometimes give Mckenzie

higher status when he did not have as much interest in the topic being discussed such
as where to sleep.
Later, when we were rehearsing again, and the director would tell us to move or
have energy, no one would do anything until Grayson accepted it. What was even more
interesting was that by the end of the evening, most adults were giving Grayson higher
status.
Analysis: Grayson was definitely the leader of the entire group who also had the
highest status of the group. This makes sense because he has a very loud, boisterous
personality that is naturally high status. Grayson also has been doing the musical for a
long time and is a sophomore this year. In the past, his brother was also the leader of
the group so I think the group naturally sees Grayson as following his brothers
leadership.
It is interesting that he gave up some status for Mckenzie. This could mean that
maybe he acknowledges her as the next leader of the group. Or it could be that he likes
her and also wants to gain her affection. Or it could just be that he was becoming tired
with the night and did not have the energy to act.
My hypothesis was mostly correct. Grayson turned out to be the main leader of
the group with a few smaller leaders of the other groups of people. Everyone looked to
him for confirmation before acting. His leadership was more based on his personality
and his friend groups than age because he is not the oldest person in the group or in
the musical the longest.