A Social Group

I chose to visit an Alcoholics Anonymous group for my Understanding Group Dynamics project. I went on March 20th 2016, to an open discussion group titled Pass it On Group for Beginners that are Living Sober. It was held at the First Congregational Church at 14 Brookside Road in Darien, CT 06854 at 6:15 p.m.. I chose to go to this group as I felt it was a group that I could most strongly connect to, as I am a recovering alcoholic. I have been cold turkey for two years now. I choose to live a sober life as the hangovers, pain that myself and loved ones endured and the constant need to escape from reality was taking over my existence. Going to this group reminded me that I am not alone in this journey of recovery and in the journey of figuring out how to live life sober with my friends, family and strangers drinking around me. The group was friendly and one that when you first enter, they make sure that you are there for the right reasons as confidentiality is important. Then right after, they welcome you with open arms and if you choose to just sit and listen that is fine, but I am a vocal person and I spoke and applauded. I am glad that we got to do this assignment, for I think without I would have never gone to an AA group meeting. I would have kept on my journey by myself and just praying when times got hard, now I have people I can reach out to.

Acceptance is the first building-block when entering a group. If accredited by those in your association, this leads to belonging with everyone, and then finally being treated like close acquaintances no matter what the situation is. This behavior is displayed throughout in the stories, The Outsiders and West Side Story. In the fictional novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the main character, Ponyboy, belongs to a diverse gang of delinquents, each of them with different qualities and aspects, but as divergent as they all are, they always welcome one another like a family. In the fictional play West Side Story by Arthur Laurents, there is a character named Tony who has gradually grown distant from his old gang, the Jets, although his fellow

It seems as if within a group we act as single entity instead of a group

Learning how to work effectively in a group situation is key to success in many professions as well as in social situations. Groups vary from each other based on the individuals that make up each group, all of us belong to various groups at one time or another. The roles that we fulfill vary from group to

However, if we spent a few moments to get to know each other a bit better, we might find that bonding a positive component in working together in this group and completing assignments. Individuals in group G have expressed their concern with another class group they have and how the communication is not flowing as it does in this group. They are frustrated and overwhelmed with the issues that are problematic in the other groups. There has been descriptions of social loafing and levels of conflict in discussing some of the issues the individual group members have expressed. One of the main complaints is based on how they communicate which is a slow process if only done via email, which one of the group mates has express of how they

Being involved groups is essential to everyday living and many of us will belong to a variety of groups at the same time. For example, families, social, sports, support, learning management and committees groups. A group is “a small, face-to-face collection of persons who interact to accomplish some purpose” (Schriver, 1998). In other words, a group is collection of diverse people with common characteristics or purpose. A group can consist of any number of people from any number of races, ethnicities, culture, age, and or religious background. People involved in groups interact, engage, support, and identify with each other and are aware of each other in the group, often meet regularly at pre-determined destinations and times. The people involved

The Progressive were known as middle class women and men who were from New York, Philadelphia, Wisconsin, and Chicago. The two groups consist of Social Gospel movement and women. The task of Social Gospel were actions suggested many middle-class citizens to support the Progressive reform. On the other hand the women were highly educated and worked outside of homes. They used their domestic duties to the public, and also fighting towards non-violence. “The Progressive Era established settlement houses, safe residences in poor neighborhoods where reformers could study local conditions.” (Schultz, p. 337, 2009) The reformers also created the Anti-Saloon League to help families of husbands and fathers to not drink their lives away and get back

A group is a set of people or things that are considered and classified together who frequently interact and mutually influence each other. Whereas each individual of a group differs greatly from one another, each member shares a common goal or expectations. Universities, for example, are groups of students who are seeking a higher education in a specific area of study. Government parties are groups of people who share certain political beliefs and seek to attain and maintain government power. Wall Street firms are comprised of highly motivated bankers who graduated from the most prestigious universities. Despite the individual differences of every member, the common goal remolds their individualism by inputting its own expectations and goals

The Progressive Era was a time when a group of people especially men suffered from the events of their time, but not through a shrinkage of what they needed, but because of the distribution of deference as well as the ability to obtaining power (Scott, 1959). The Era also started to the issues of child labor, the exploration of women as well as children that were within the industry, there was not any type of security in place for the old, nor was there anything in place for the people with illnesses (Scott, 1959). In addition, there was also a problem with sanitation in the food industry as well as there being municipal corruption. Because of these issues, Americans started to create Reform Groups.

Throughout this semester I have been able to attend three different groups and they all have taught me something different. The three groups that I have been a part of are: Love and Logic Parenting Class, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills Group, and a Chronic Pain Group. The DBT group is the one that I have been a part the longest and will write most of my paper on. In this group there were originally three members, however, as of this week a new group member has joined.

In the essays, “Committees, Juries, and Teams: The Columbia Disaster and How Small Groups Can Be Made to Work,” and “The Hive” shows the ways to properly run a small group and how to get the correct and best results. The two essays also say what to avoid when working in a small group; for example how to avoid group polarization and why that is detrimental to small groups. The essay by James Surowiecki also explains to avoid a type of dictator in the small group, someone who is the main mouthpiece to the group and why that is a negative aspect to have in a small group. The two essays show the pros and cons of working in small groups, both authors show that if the people with in the group do not work properly together the outcome the

Tuckman proposes that groups develop via five stages; forming, storming, norming, performing and finally adjourning (Archee, Gurney, & Mohan, 2013a). The first stage, known as forming, involves clarifying the task and purpose of the group, and identifying boundaries of both the task and interpersonal behaviour (Archee et al., 2013a). For the presentation task we were randomly allocated into groups. This worried me greatly as I have struggled in the past with group members who do not contribute equally or see the task as important as other group members. To avoid this problem, the group collectively determined and agreed upon a number of ground rules. For example, we decided that all group members were expected to contribute equally to the presentation, all group members were expected to attend and contribute at all group meetings, and all group members would adhere to agreed upon deadlines. Having failed to do this in previous group assignments, this clarification stage

In fact, people can move from one group to another. A graduate seminar, for example, can start as a secondary group focused on the class at hand, but as the students work together throughout their program, they may find common interests and strong ties that transform them into a primary group.

According to Cartwright & Zander (1968), a group may be defined as a “collection of individuals who have relations to one another that make them interdependent to some significant degree”. Other definitions state that a group is “two or more persons who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other person (Shaw, 1981). Turner (1987) goes further to say that “a psychological group is one that is psychologically significant for the members, to which they relate themselves subjectively for social comparison and the acquisitions of norms and values…that they privately accept membership in and which influence their attitudes and behaviour”. Clark & Pataki reserve the term “group”

In conclusion, this class has changed my perspective about working in a group. Since my prior experience with groups was so unsettling, I believed that all groups were going to be the same. However, this class has made it possible to believe that there are groups that respect and take into consideration other members’