group dynamics

• Group

  A collection of three or more individuals who interact about some common problem or interdependent goal and can exert mutual influence over one another
• Group (Shaw's definition)

  Two or more persons interacting in a manner where each person influences and is influenced by the others
• Group Dynamics

  Forces and processes at work within a relatively small human group
• Types of groups

  • Encounter Group
  • Task-oriented Group
  • Work Group
  • Creativity Workshop Group
  • Organizational Group
  • Team Building Group
  • Gestalt Group
  • Synanon Group or Game
  • Small Group
  • Mature Group
• Encounter Group


  Emphasizes personal growth, development, improvement of interpersonal communication and relationship through experiential process
• Task-oriented Group


  Focuses on the work of the group in its interpersonal process
• Work Group


  Rely primarily on the individual contributions of its members for group performance
• Team Building Group

  Designed to develop more united and effective working members or a group that has reached a higher level of quality; it has developed cohesiveness among its members; it creates critical work processes; provides leadership for its own development and performance
• Gestalt Group


  Utilizes the "holistic" concept
• Synanon Group or Game

  Tends to emphasize an almost violent attack on the defences of the participants
• Small Group

  Members communicate face to face, aware of each other's roles
• Mature Group


  Highly effective in achieving goals due to highly developed skills, both task and process group
• Kinds of groups

  • Task groups
  • Educational/guidance groups
• Types of educational/guidance groups

  • Mental health counselors
  • School counselors
  • Family counselors
• Educational/guidance groups

  • Content-oriented with specific lesson plans and learning objectives
  • Use questionnaires, multimedia presentations, group discussions, role playing, panel presentations, mini-lectures, and other strategies to personalize content
• Process groups

  1. Focus on the process of learning

  2. Leader takes steps to change focus to underlying processes, expression of opinions, feelings, and beliefs, ownership of personal reactions, keeping participants focused on internal processes, and making discussions member-centered
• Experiential groups


  Focus on present experiences, interaction between members, feedback, practice of new behavior, self-disclosure, risk-taking, authenticity, and awareness of self and interactions
• Self-help groups

  Do not have leaders present, members rotate leadership role, focus on general growth issues, interaction between members, self-disclosure, risk-taking, and authenticity
• Distinction between Self-Help Groups & therapeutic Groups

  Self-help groups do not have leaders present, while therapeutic groups may have leaders; counseling groups are short-term, focused on adjustment issues, and for relatively normal functioning individuals; therapy groups are suited for those with more severe disorders
• Counseling groups are aimed at fixing current problems and preventing future ones, members receive specific help, sessions have specific lengths depending on the setting, and end with a "go-around" to discuss takeaways and intentions for the next week
• Ideally, counseling groups are designed to be as heterogeneous as possible to provide varied resources for members
• Counseling groups

  • Designed to be as heterogeneous as possible with the greatest diversity in cultural background and experience to provide varied resources for members
• Therapy Groups

  • Suited for those with more severe disorders, longer-term treatments, led by professionals with advanced training, dealing with disorders that may require medication, hospitalization, or other medical interventions
• Inpatient groups

  • Integral part of most medical health programs, structured to provide daily or weekly support, help participants learn coping or interpersonal skills, create a surrogate family, teach problem-solving strategies
• Universal therapeutic factors in groups

  • Support
  • Sense of belonging
  • Catharsis
  • Vicarious learning
  • Awareness
  • Family reenactment
  • Public commitment
  • Task facilitation
  • Risk taking
• Support in groups


  Groups make it possible for people to explore the unknown, provide a safety net for recovery
• Sense of belonging in groups


  Groups create cohesion and trust, making it easier to feel safe
• Catharsis in groups

  Groups create emotional intensity, associated with positive changes if the arousal leads to resolution
• Vicarious learning in groups

  Members learn from observation, leader models effective behavior, members identify with themes explored by others
• Awareness in groups

  Participants become more aware of their behavior and its impact on others, become sensitive to nuances in others' behavior, increase motivation to grow and learn
• Family reenactment in groups

  Groups provide an interpersonal context reminiscent of a family, allowing participants to work through family issues from the past and present
• Public commitment in groups

  Telling others your intentions increases the likelihood of following through, mutual accountability helps in setting and declaring realistic goals
• Task facilitation in groups

  Helping members translate insights into constructive plans, mutual accountability facilitates completion of therapeutic tasks
• Risk taking in groups

  Various types of risks in groups, revealing deep secrets, expressing feelings, revealing oneself authentically, taking emotional risks
• Risking in group work


  Is the heart of group work
• Rehearsal

  1. Acts as a real-life laboratory for practicing new behaviors

  2. It is possible to experiment with new behavioral options, new ways of relating to other people, and then to get feedback on the impact of this action

  3. Roleplaying and other psychodramatic strategies make it possible to rehearse confrontations in a reasonably safe setting and then to refine strategies in light of suggestions made by others
• Confrontation and feedback

  1. In a high functioning group, it is safe to speak the truth

  2. Groups are one of the few places in which it is okay to be yourself and then hear how others honestly respond to you

  3. The gift of others' honesty is a powerful learning tool in groups
• Magic in groups

  1. Amazing things happen in groups, some of which defy description, much less explanation

  2. Participants can dramatically change their lives in ways that could never have been possible in any other setting

  3. The feeling of camaraderie and caring become intrinsically healing
• Characteristics of a functional group

  • High levels of trust and safety are established
  • Individual and cultural differences are valued and respected
  • Clear boundaries and rules about appropriate conduct are established
  • Conflict is acknowledged and worked through
  • Information and resources are shared efficiently
  • Everyone participates
  • Acting out is blocked
  • The group is efficient
  • Nonverbal behavior is consistent with what is communicated aloud
  • Continuity and follow-up from session to session are integral part of the experience
• Essential


  Congruence between what people are saying and what they are actually thinking and feeling inside