Group behaviour

Group behaviour

Group behavior in sociology refers to the situations where people interact in large or small groups. The field of group dynamics deals with small groups that may reach consensus and act in a coordinated way. Groups of a large number of people in a given area may act simultaneously to achieve a goal that differs from what individuals would do acting alone (herd behaviour). A large group (a crowd or mob) is likely to show examples of group behaviour when people gathered in a given place and time act in a similar way—for example, joining a protest or march, participating in a fight or acting patriotically.

Special forms of large group behaviour are:
* crowd "hysteria"
* spectators - when a group of people gathered together on purpose to participate in an event like theatre play, cinema movie, football match, a concert, etc.
* public - exception to the rule that the group must occupy the same physical place. People watching same channel on television may react in the same way, as they are occupying the same type of place - in front of television - although they may physically be doing this all over the world.

Group behaviour differs from mass actions which refers to people behaving similarly on a more global scale (for example, shoppers in different shops), while group behaviour refers usually to people in one place. If the group behaviour is coordinated, then it is called group action.

Swarm intelligence is a special case of group behaviour, referring to the interaction between a group of agents in order to fulfil a given task. This type of group dynamics has received much attention by the soft computing community in the form of the particle swarm optimization family of algorithms.

See also

*bandwagon effect
*collective consciousness
*collective effervescence
*collective hysteria
*collective intelligence
*crowd psychology
*group conflict
*herd behavior
*Keeping up with the Joneses
*mob rule (ochlocracy)
*moral panic
*peer pressure
*social behaviour
*social comparison theory
*spiral of silence

Notes

References

* Witte, Erich H. and James H. Davis (1996). "Understanding Group Behavior: Consensual Action by Small Groups. Volume: 1 Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

External links

* [http://tinyrock.com/monkey Monkey] Software to generate optimum groups based on the web of relationships between members
* [http://tinyrock.com/termites Termites] Software to generate optimum seating plans just like Monkey


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Group — can refer to: Sociology * Group action (sociology) * Group behaviour * Groups of people, a description of various different human groups ** Peer group ** Workgroup * Group dynamics * Group (sociology), a sub set of a culture or of a society *… …   Wikipedia

  • Group mind — can mean: * Collective intelligence, a concept in sociology and philosophy * Group mind (science fiction), a type of collective consciousness * A metaphor for the group behaviour of social insects * The Group Mind , a book by William McDougall… …   Wikipedia

  • Group development — The goal of most research on group development is to learn why and how small groups change over time. To do this, researchers examine patterns of change and continuity in groups over time. Aspects of a group that might be studied include the… …   Wikipedia

  • Group action (sociology) — In sociology, group action is the situation in which a large number of people in a given area behave simultaneously in a similar way in order to achieve a common goal; their actions are usually coordinated.Group action will likely take place when …   Wikipedia

  • Group psychotherapy — is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, including Cognitive behavioural therapy… …   Wikipedia

  • Group dynamics — is the study of groups, and also a general term for group processes. Relevant to the fields of psychology, sociology, and communication studies, a group is two or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships. [Forsyth …   Wikipedia

  • Behaviour therapy — is a form of psychotherapy used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, and other forms of psychopathology. Its philosophical roots can be found in the school of behaviorism, which states that psychological matters can be studied… …   Wikipedia

  • group — [gruːp] noun [countable] 1. also group of companies ORGANIZATIONS a large business organization that consists of several companies that all have the same owner: • Burmah Castrol, the lubricants group • the sale of the Rover Group to BMW …   Financial and business terms

  • Group decision making — (also known as collaborative decision making) is a situation faced when individuals are brought together in a group to solve problems. According to the idea of synergy, decisions made collectively tend to be more effective than decisions made by… …   Wikipedia

  • Group conflict — Group conflicts, also called group intrigues, is where social behaviour causes groups of individuals to conflict with each other. It can also refer to a conflict within these groups. This conflict is often caused by differences in social norms,… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”