Social psychology envelopes not just the study of an individual but individuals in communities,

organizations and most importantly – groups. Even though people are capable of living separate
and apart from others, they join with others because groups meet their psychological and social
needs [ CITATION For14 \l 1033 ] . Hence, groups are an important facet of human existence and a
study on groups is imperative especially in the realm of social psychology. Factors that influence
the development of a group include, the need for social support, for performance enhancement,
cooperation needs, social identity purposes, interdependence, and satisfaction; to name just a
few. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these factors that influence the development of a
group.

To commence with, it is befitting to rehearse the definition of a group. A group or social group is
defined as a set of individual with a shared purpose and who normally share a positive social
identity [ CITATION Sta11 \l 1033 ]. In relation to the idea of a common purpose, Tajfel (1981)
asserted that a group becomes a group in the sense of being perceived as having common
characteristics or a common fate mainly because other groups are present in the environment.
Again, it can be defined as two or more individuals that are connected to each other by social
relationships [ CITATION For06 \l 1033 ] . Pennington (2014) defined a group from a cognitive point
of view, as any number of people who interact with each other and perceive themselves to be in a
group. Though these definitions may not be exhaustive but they highlight essential aspects of a
group which are similarity of purpose and behavior, interaction and a sense of belonging.

Groups may be differentiated on the basis of contact (primary and secondary), identification (in-
group and out-group), rules and regulation (formal and informal), structure (voluntary,
involuntary and delegate) and relation to society (unsocial, pseudo-social, anti-social and pro-
social). For the purpose of this essay, factors that shall be discussed will cover different types of
groups as listed above.

The first factor to be discussed that influence the development of a group is the concept of
similarity. When people perceive similarity in task, beliefs, values traits and opinions they are
likely to be operational in a group. If a collection of people are interested in the same things,
share the same opinions and beliefs, or work together on the same task, then it seems they should
be considered—by both themselves and others—to be a group [ CITATION Sta11 \l 1033 ]. People,
then, generally get together to form groups precisely because they are similar. Playing that in a
more practical sense, psychology students may work in groups while working on an academic
assignment; the reason being that they are working towards the same goal and task. The concept
of similarity is of great importance since it gives a sense of direction and in most cases enhances
cohesion since every member of the group understands the purpose of the group and are pursuing
the same goals. However, the problem with this concept of similarity is that the group is more
likely to fall apart when the group members become dissimilar and thus no longer have enough
in common to keep them together [ CITATION Cru10 \l 1033 ]. From the example given above,
when the assignment for that particular course has been concluded, the group may dissolve
because a group will only remain cohesive as long as the goals remain common [ CITATION
Taj81 \l 1033 ].

Another factor that influence the development of a group is the need for interdependence.
Interdependence is defined as the extent to which the group members are mutually dependent
upon each other to reach a goal [ CITATION Sta11 \l 1033 ] . Social interdependence exists when the
accomplishment of each individual’s goals is affected by the actions of others [ CITATION Joh94 \l
1033 ]. The social interdependence theory by Johnson & Johnson (1994) identified two types of
interdependence; positive interdependence and negative interdependence. People usually develop
groups when they become dependent on each other for example students may feel the need to
gather in a group for a group discussion when preparing for examinations. This is positive
interdependence whereby individuals perceive that they can reach their goals if and only if the
other individuals with whom they are cooperatively linked also reach their goals and, therefore,
promote each other’s efforts to achieve the goals [ CITATION Joh94 \l 1033 ]. Deutsch (1949) also
noted that when group members are interdependent, they report liking each other more, tend to
cooperate and communicate with each other to a greater extent, and may be more productive.

However, the downside of interdependence is that of competition and free riders. Fiske, Gilbert,
and Lindzey (2009) allude that groups are vulnerable to the invasion of “cheaters” and “free
riders” – individuals who strategically avail themselves of others’ benevolence while failing to
reciprocate. This is true for group discussions, there are certain individuals who never contribute
anything during the discussion but they feed on the knowledge of others. Competition or
negative interdependence may also exist in a group, this is whereby individuals perceive that
they can obtain their goals if and only if the other individuals with whom they are competitively
linked fail to obtain their goals and, therefore, obstruct each other’s effort to achieve the goals
[ CITATION Joh94 \l 1033 ]. This leads to competition amongst individuals of the same group
thereby defeating the purpose of the group.

An important factor which also influences the development of a group is the need for belonging.
Individuals have a need for being affiliated with a particular group thereby embracing social
identity. Social identity refers to the part of the self-concept that results from individuals’
membership in social groups [ CITATION Hog03 \l 1033 ]. According to the social identity
approach, a group is a group when the members experience social identity—when they define
themselves in part by the group that they belong to and feel good about their group membership [
CITATION Hog03 \l 1033 ]. This identity might be seen as a tendency on the part of the individual to
talk positively about the group to others, a general enjoyment of being part of the group, and a
feeling of pride that comes from group membership.

In as much as being in a group stimulates feelings of belonging, there are however undesirable
effects which are in-group biases and intergroup discrimination. In group biases supports the
tendency to evaluate aspects of one’s own in-group group more favorably than some out-group.
This is usually the case with supporters of sporting teams, every supporter believes their team is
better than the rest. Intergroup discrimination may also result from the concept of social identity.
Members of a particular group may exhibit discriminatory actions towards members of the other
group. This may lead to prejudice and stereotyping. This is evident especially in the sphere of
religion whereby a particular group of religion may not interact with members of other religions.

Furthermore, another factor that influences the development of groups is the need for social
support. Leon Festinger’s theory of social comparison (1950, 1954) suggested that in many cases
people join with others to evaluate the accuracy of their personal beliefs and attitudes. Stanley
Schachter (1959) explored this process by putting individuals in ambiguous, stressful situations
and asking them if they wished to wait alone or with others. He found that people affiliate in
such situations—they seek the company of others. This stamps the fact that people are likely to
engage in groups so that they may have social support, a family is also an immediate example of
a social support group. Individuals resort to sharing their problems with parents or siblings, this
plays an effective role in mental and emotional health. Social support also may be mentioned
when paying attention to such groups as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) where those struggling
with alcohol issues can get social support from fellow alcoholics and those who had successfully
quit the habit.

On the other hand, in as much as the need for social support is a factor that influences the
development of groups, it should be taken into cognizance that people prefer to be with those
that provide with reassurance and support as well as accurate information. In some cases people
prefer to join with others who are even worse off than them [ CITATION Sta11 \l 1033 ] . For
example, a student who gets an 85% from the in class test would prefer to affiliate with a friend
who got a 70% than the one who got a 98%. To maintain a sense of self-worth, people seek out
and compare themselves to the less fortunate in a process known as downward social
comparison.

An essential factor that influence the development of a group is the need to enhance
performance. People often believe that if they engage in groups they will be able to increase and
enhance their performance on a task. In one of the earliest empirical studies in psychology, while
watching bicycle races, Triplett (1898) noticed that cyclists were faster when they competed
against other racers than when they raced alone against the clock. Triplett then carried out an
experiment to determine if the presence of others leads to the psychological stimulation that
enhances performance and this led to the phenomenon known as social facilitation. Social
facilitation refers to the enhancement of an individual’s performance when that person works in
the presence of other people. Therefore, a group development may be influenced by the fact that
there is social facilitation within a group setting.

However, performance in groups should not be overrated because individuals in a group tend to
slack when working in a group especially when the task is considered unimportant and therefore
individual contribution may be minimized. This is called social loafing. The reason for this is
that coordination is lost when people work in groups. Coordination losses become more
problematic as the size of the group increases because it becomes correspondingly more difficult
to coordinate the group members [ CITATION Sta11 \l 1033 ]. Another nuisance to group
performance is groupthink. Groupthink is a collective thinking defect that is characterized by a
premature consensus or an incorrect assumption of consensus, caused by members of a group
failing to promote views which are not consistent with the views of other members. Groupthink
occurs in a variety of situations, including isolation of a group and the presence of a highly
directive leader [ CITATION Sta11 \l 1033 ]. Therefore, even though the need to increase
performance may influence the development of a group, it is highly affected by groupthink and
social loafing.

In conclusion, factors that influence the development of a group include similarity, the need for
social support, the need for belonging, interdependence, enhancement of performance and the
need for social identity. This paper has highlighted that though these factors influence the
development of a group, however they are not enduring since they have their downside. Groups
increase efficiency and performance and provide social support, nevertheless as discussed above
they may be a breeding ground for stereotyping, prejudice, social loafing and groupthink.
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