LB - Group Membership and Peer Relationships

• Kelley's group types

  • incidental
  • membership
  • identity reference
  • variable in commitment and cohensiveness
• Group distinctiveness based on certain properties

  • high distinctiveness: clear boundaries, homogenous
  • low: heterogenous, no clear boundaries
• Group socialisation

  integrating new members into norms
• motivational explanations for GM

  • sociometer theory: self-esteem motives
  • terror-management theory: fear of death
  • uncertainty-identity theory: self-uncertainty motives
• group identity can be influenced by personality
• Roles:

  • behaviours to distinguish members
  • implicit and explicit
• Status

  • not all rules are equal (hierarchies)
  • expectation states theory (role based on status-based expectation)
  • specific status characteristic: useful attributes to complete task
  • diffuse status characteristic: general attributes that are positively regarded
• prototypes


  ideal representation of category

  highly prototypical members have more influence and leadership roles
• Leadership (social explanation)

  • identity us built through membership and norms
  • leader represents group
• Leadership (individual explanation)

  • traits leadership approach
  • universal characteristics of effective leaders
• Transformational leaders


  motivate followers to transcend personal needs in crisis/growth by giving a clear vision
• Laissez-Faire

  hands-off approch, informal
• Peer Relations

  • affiliation between people with shared characteristics
  • varies across lifespan
  • friendship: dyadic voluntary close relationships, similar to self, have structure
• Functions of PR

  • Social, emotional, behavioural functioning/performance (contribute to academic achievement)
  • reinforce identity development (basic need to belong, develop identity)
  • develop skills (for leading, engaging in cooperative activities etc)
• Measuring PR

  • reports, sociograms, interview, sclaes
• Individual theories of PR

  • personality - high extraversion is associated with more friends
  • high self-esteem links to being liked @ first
  • similarity (homophily)
  • social learning theory: learn from peers
  • social identity theory: group identity directs behaviour of peers
• Situational theories of PR

  • propinquity/proximity effect
  • mere exposure theory
• social influence

  • peer pressure: can directly/subtlety infleunce behaviour
  • asch study