Joining Groups

1. Joining Groups
1. Personality Traits

The reason why most of the time there is a

quick membership to a certain group is
Personality.
• Personality- The configuration of
distinctive but enduring dispositional
characteristics, including traits,
temperament, and values that
characterize an individual’s responses
across situations.
• Five- Factor model- Big five theory- A
conceptual model of the primary
dimensions that structure the
individual differences in personality.
o Provides one explanation for the

idiosyncratic consistencies in
individual’s thoughts, feelings and
actions overtime.
 Etraversion: engagement
and interest in social
interactions, including
friendliness, gregariousness,
assertiveness, activity,
excitement seeking, and
cheerfulness.
 Agreeableness- Cooperative
orientation to others,
including acceptance,
frankness, compassion,
congeniality, modesty, and
sympathy.
 Conscientiousness-
Persistence in the pursuit of
tasks, including self-
confidence, orderliness,
meeting of obligations,
achievement striving, self –
regulation, and measured
responding.
  Neuroticism- strong
emotional proclivities,
including anxiety, hostility,
negative affect, shyness,
lack of impulse control, and
reactivity to stressors.
 Openness to Experience-

active pursuit of
intellectually and
aesthetically stimulating
experiences, including
imagination, fantasy,
appreciation of the art,
openness to emotionsand
experiences, curiosity, and
cognitive flexibility.
o The theory assumes that people
differ from one another in many
ways, but much of this variability
is the observable manifestation of
this five basic dimensions.
Joiners and Loners
 • All five of the factors in the FFM of
personality predict people’s interest in
joining groups and their actions once
they are included in those groups, but
one trait is a particularly influential
determinant of one’s groupishness:
Exraversion
• The tendency to move toward people
rather than away from people.
Explain how Extraverts are more likely to
join groups?

Personality- Group Fits

1. Extraverts are particularly attracted to
organizations that are team oriented.
2. Agreeable- would just as soon avoid
groups that are aggressive and
competitive, like extraverts, they
prefer groups that emphasize
cooperation.
 3. Conscientious individuals- more
attracted to groups and organization
that are detail- and task oriented
4. Openness- Creativity, originality and
aesthetics.

1. Anxiety and Attachment

Personal qualities may push away from
groups.
1. Shyness- The tendency to be reserved
or timid during social interactions,
usually coupled with feelings of
discomfort and nervousness.
o The dispositional tendency to feel

uneasy, uncomfortable, and

awkward in response to actual or
anticipated social interaction.
o Shy people do not join groups as

readily as others, they do not find

 group activities to be as
enjoyable.
o Most people who are shy manage
to cope with nervousness they
feel when in groups.
o Social surrogate- taking a friend
when entering a new group,
Helps them transition into the
group by doing much of the work
needed to establish connection
with others.
• Social Anxiety- shyness escalated into
social anxiety
o A feeling of apprehension and

embarrassment experienced
when anticipating or actually
interacting with other people.
o Sets in when people want to

make good impression, but they

do not think that their attempts
to establish relationship will
succeed.
o Socially anxious people, even
when they join groups do not
actively participate; silence,
downcast eyes and low speaking
voices.
o Innocuous sociability
o This anxiety can cause people to
reduce their social contact with
others- i.e. to disaffiliate.
o Experience Sampling- A research
method that asks participants to
record their thoughts, emotions,
or behavior at the time they are
experiencing them rather than at
a later time or date; in some
cases, participants make their
entries when they are signaled by
researchers using electronic
pagers, personal data assistants,
or similar device.
o Anxiety and pronounce fear may
lead into social anxiety disorder
  Excessive and unreasonable
fear of social situations,
qualifying as phobia rather
than distress and discomfort
when facing a social
challenge.
o Attachment Style; Attachment
theory: suggests that from an
early age, children differ in the
way they relate to others, with
some children developing very
secure and comfortable
relationships with their caregivers
but others exhibiting dependence
and uncertainty.
 People also have a group-

level attachment styles.

 People with anxious

group attachment
styles spend less time
in their group, engage
in fewer collective
 activities, and are less
satisfied with the level
of support they receive
from the group.
 Those with avoidant
group attachment style
felt that the group was
less important to them,
and they were more
likely to claim that they
were planning to leave
the group.
 Those with more
anxious attachment
style contribute less to
the groups
instrumental work.

1. Social Motivation
o Psychological processes that

guide people’s choice and the

goals they seek. Social motives
prompt people to take action,
those actions include seeking out
and joining groups.
1. Need for Affiliation- A
motivating state of tension
that can be relieved by
joining with other people,
which frequently includes
concerns about winning the
approval of other people.
1. People tend to join
groups more
frequently, spend more
of their time in groups,
communicate more
with other group
members and accept
other group members
more readily.
2. Need for Intimacy- A
motivating state of tension
 that can be relieved by
seeking out warm, positive
relationships with others

3. Need for power- A motivating state of

tension that can be relieved by gaining
control over other people and one’s
environment.

• Fundamental Interpersonal Relations

Orientations theory- A theory of
group formation and development that
emphasizes compatibility among three
basic social motives; inclusion, control
and affection.
o Inclusion- refers to people’s

desire to join with others but also

their need to be accepted buy
those others.
 o Affection- a desire to like others
as well as a desire to be liked by
them.
o Control- includes the need to be

dominate others but also the

willingness to let others be
dominant.
• The theory assumes that people join
groups, and remain in them, because
they meet one or more of these basic
needs.
1. Men, Women, and Groups
 Women tend to be

somewhat more extraverted

and agreeable/
 Women in general are

higher in relationality- their

values, attitudes and
outlooks emphasize and
facilitate establishing a
connection to others.
  Women expect more
reciprocity and loyalty,
intimacy, solidarity and
companionship.
 Men- more energetic in

order to perform a task or

reach a goal.
2. Attitudes, Experiences, and
Expectations
1. Beliefs about Groups
1. People with more
negative beliefs about
groups and their
effectiveness were less
likely to take part in
them.
2. According to BAG
(Beliefs about groups)
measure- Individuals
who had more positive
beliefs about a group’s
capacity to enhance
 performance and
efforts expressed a
stronger preference to
join in groups, whereas
those who had more
negative expectations
about groups were
disinclined to take part
in them.
2. Experiences in Groups-
One’s previous experience
in groups, whether good or
bad, influences one’s
interest in joining groups in
the future.
3. Taking Collective action-
Social movement
• Collaborative circle- A relatively small
group of peers who work together for
an extended period of time,
exchanging ideas for commentary and
critique and developing a shared
 conception of what their methods and
goals should be.
• Social Movement- A deliberate,
sustained, and organized group of
individuals seeking change or resisting
a change in a social system.
Movements are sustained by
individuals who may share a common
outlook on issues or by members of
identifiable social groups or categories,
but not by businesses, political
organizations, or governments.
Affiliation
1. Affiliation – The gathering together of
individuals (typically members of the
same species) in one location; also, a
formalized relationship, as when an
individual is said to be affiliated with a
group or organization.
a. Social Comparison
 • People often rely on others for
information about themselves and the
environment.
• The process of contrasting one’s
personal qualities and outcomes,
including beliefs, attitudes and values,
abilities, accomplishments, and
experience, to those of other people.
o Suggested that it begins when

people find themselves in

ambiguous confusing situations.
b. Affiliation and Social Support
• Social Support- Comfort, caring and
companionship extended to those who
are dealing with turbulence and
trouble.
o A sense of belonging, emotional

support, advice, guidance,

tangible assistance, and
perspective provided by groups
when members experience stress,
daily hassles, and more significant
life crises.
 Belonging - Groups let

members know that they are

valued members and
reassure them that they are
not alone in facing their
problems; they meet
members’ need to feel
included and accepted.
 Emotional Support - Group

members express their

caring, concern, and
affection for one another;
they minimize self-doubt,
tension, and vulnerability
while increasing self-esteem,
resilience, and self-
satisfaction. Members
compliment, encourage, and
listen to one another.
 Informational support-
Groups provide members
with useful information for
solving problems, making
decisions, and setting their
goals; they offer advice,
guidance, and suggestions.
 Instrumental support-
Groups offer tangible
assistance to their members,
as when they help each
other with assigned tasks,
loan money and materials to
one another, or work
collaboratively on shared
tasks.
 Meaning - Groups provide
members with existential, or
spiritual support, by allaying
existential anxiety,
reconfirming members’
 world views, and sharing
faith and perspectives.
c. Social Comparison and the Self
1.
1. Provide individuals with
information about confusing
circumstances as well as comfort
and companionship in difficult
times.
1. Downward social
comparison Selecting people
who are less well off as
targets for social comparison
(rather than individuals who
are similar or superior to
oneself or one’s outcomes).
2. Upward social comparison
Selecting people who are
superior to oneself or whose
outcomes surpass one’s own
 as targets for social
comparison.
2. Self- Evaluation Maintenance-
When our own accomplishments
pale in comparison to those of
friend or fellow group member,
social comparison often leaves us
feeling more dejected than
elated.
1. Self- Evaluation
maintenance (SEM) model-
we will graciously celebrate
others’ accomplishments,
provided they perform very
well on tasks that are not
central to our sense of self-
worth.
 A theoretical analysis

of social comparison
processes that assumes
that individuals
maintain and enhance
 their self-esteem by
associating with high-
achieving individuals
who excel in areas that
are not relevant to the
individual’s own sense
of self-esteem and
avoiding association
with high-achieving
individuals who excel
in areas that are
important to the
individual’s sense of
self-esteem (developed
by Abraham Tesser).
Attraction
1. Attraction- transforms acquaintances
into friends.
1. Acquaintance process- strangers
being asked to live together in a
 place and then they record the
ebb and flow.
2. Principles of Attraction
1. Proximity principle- people join
groups that happen to be close
by.
 The tendency for individuals

to form interpersonal
relations with those who are
close by; also known as the
“principle of propinquity.”
 Familiarity principle-

people show a
preference for the
familiar rather than the
unknown.
 Proximity increase

interaction between
people, and interaction
cultivates attraction.
1. The elaboration Principle- Groups, as
self- organizing, dynamic systems, tend
to increase in complexity over time.
o Elaboration or percolation- the

basic dynamic of elaboration is

the proliferation of elements and
ties,” which “are linked together
to form a functional unit called a
group.
o The tendency for groups to

expand in size as nonmembers

become linked to a group
member and thus become part of
the group itself;this process is
termed percolation in network
theory.
2. The Similarity Principle: People are
attracted to those who are similar to
them in some way.
1. The tendency for individuals to
seek out, affiliate with, or
attracted to an individual who is
 similar to them in some way; this
tendency causes groups and
other interpersonal aggregates to
be homogenous rather than
diverse.
2. Homophily- similarity of the
members in attitudes, values,
demographic characteristics, and
so on, is common in groups.
1. Love of the same, the
tendency for members of
groups and other collectives
to be similar to one another
in some way, such
demographic background,
attitudes and values;
generally expressed
informally as birds of a
feather flock together.
3. The Complementary Principle- If
people’s qualities complement
each other- they are dissimilar
but they fit well together- this
unique form of dissimilarity may
encourage people to associate
with one another.
1. People are attracted to
those who possess
characteristics that
complement their own
personal characteristics.
2. A tendency for opposites to
attract when the ways in
which people are dissimilar
are congruent in some way.
3. Interchange compatibility-
exists when members have
similar expectations about
the group’s intimacy,
control, and inclusiveness.
4. Originator compatibility-
when people have dissimilar
but complementary, needs
with regard to expressing
 and receiving control,
inclusion, and affection.
4. The Reciprocity Principle- liking
tends to be mutual
1. The tendency for liking to be
met with liking in return;
when A likes B, then B will
tend to like A.
2. When we discover that
someone else accepts and
approves of us- they give
friendly advice; complement
us, or declare their
admiration for us- we
usually respond by liking
them in return.
3. Negative reciprocity-
disliking someone is a sure
way to earn person’s
contempt.
5. The Minimax Principle- Social
exchange theory- assumes that
 people are rational creatures who
strive to minimize their troubles,
worries, and loses and instead
maximize their positive outcomes,
happiness and rewards.
1. People will join groups and
remain in groups that
provide them with the
maximum number of valued
rewards while incurring the
minimum number of costs.
2. A general preference for
relationships and
memberships that provide
the maximum number of
valued rewards and incur
the fewest number of
possible costs.
3. The group themselves are
also an important source of
rewards and costs.
1. The economics of Membership-
1. The decision to join the group is
based on 2 factors
1. Comparison level - In social
exchange theory, the
standard by which the
individual evaluates the
quality of any social
relationship. In most cases,
individuals whose prior
relationships yielded
positive rewards with few
costs will have higher CLs
than those who experienced
fewer rewards and more
costs in prior relationships
(described by John Thibaut
and Harold Kelly).
 Only predicts when

people will be satisfied

with membership in a
group.
2. Comparison level for
alternatives- In social
exchange theory, the
standard by which
individuals evaluate the
quality of other groups that
they may join.