How does a group/groups arise?

Corey Houghton
By Corey Houghton
Questions and Answers

I am a 17 year old girl and I am in many different groups myself.

I wondered how groups actually arise, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Is there a scientific explanation for this?

thanks in advance

Asker: Kathrin, 17 years old

Answer

To determine how groups are formed, it is important to first define what a group is. Unfortunately, it is difficult to give a specific definition. Stangor (2004) makes one of the best attempts when he defines a group as “a collection of three or more individuals regarded as a group by themselves or others”.

In this way you already sense that there are all kinds of groups: a work team of 10 employees, a soccer team with 17 players, a crowd of 5000 people arguing, three best friends, a culture of millions of people, …

You notice that there are many different types of groups, differing in size, in the purpose they pursue, and in the reason they were formed.
The latter aspects are perhaps the most important if you want to know how a group is formed. That has a lot to do with the reason why a group is formed. Unfortunately, there is no unique answer to this. Each group has a different reason to arise. Some examples:
  • a football team can be created because a number of people feel like playing football at the same time
  • a work team is created because it is estimated within a company that a particular project can best be tackled by a group
  • the group “Chinese in Belgium” is considered as a group on the basis of their common nationality
  • …l

Aspects that often return when forming groups are: interaction, similarities, interdependence, structure, norms, roles. You could say that some of these factors are necessary to form a group, but that they cannot all create a group on their own. People who watch a movie in the cinema may have similarities, but that doesn’t make us think of them as a group. We will see them more as a group when disaster traps them in the movie theater and requires interaction to calm each other; if someone takes the lead to discuss choices etc.

Moreover, whether or not a group is a group (“entitativity”) is not really a yes/no question. It is better to speak about the extent to which a group is a group. For example, we will consider a professional football team much more as a group than a number of people waiting for the bus (Lickel et al 2000).
In summary, you could say that a group can arise when one or more of the above factors are present. (The more factors present, the stronger the entitativity.) So many ways in which a group can arise. Some examples:
  • a group of friends arises on the basis of the same interests, the same field of study (similarities)
  • a project team is created because its members depend on each other to achieve a goal (interdependence)
  • a group of aid workers arises because someone has a stroke in the street and several people take on a role – call 112, block traffic, … (take roles, interaction)
  • a culture arises because people develop common norms and values ​​(norms) over the years

Stangor, C. (2003). Social groups in action and interaction. New York: Psychology Press.
Lickel, B., Hamilton, D.L., Wieczorkowska, G., Lewis, A., Sherman, S.J., & Uhles, AN (2000). Varieties of groups and the perception of group entitativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 223-246.

Answered by

dr. Tim Vanhoomissen

Social Psychology, Group Perception, Intergroup Relations

How does a group/groups arise?

Thomas More

http://www.thomasmore.be

.

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