Individual or Group.
What is it that makes for being an individual or a group member?
Things that happen in order to be part of the group…. quotes from ‘lumenlearning.com’
I have done a blog on this because it is something that comes up in counselling sometimes, particularly with those who are having problems in the work place, and with those who are part of a gang or a drink or drug culture.
‘Conformity is the change in a person’s behavior to go along with the group, even if he does not agree with the group.’
What factors make a person more likely to yield to group pressure? ‘Research shows that the size of the majority, the presence of another dissenter, and the public or relatively private nature of responses (secret voting) are key influences on conformity. When in a minority of one people tend to go with the group. More than one dissenter makes it easier to not follow the group.’ Why did whole groups take the knee recently….eg police, professional footballers? Were there any dissenters? Takes courage to dissent because it is so public.
‘Compliance can be a form of conformity. Compliance is going along with a request or demand, even if you do not agree with the request.’
‘Obedience is the change of an individual’s behavior to comply with a demand by an authority figure. People often comply with the request because they are concerned about a consequence if they do not comply,’ e.g. losing a job.
Groupthink.
‘Groupthink is the modification of the opinions of members of a group to align with what they believe is the group consensus.’
‘In group situations, the group often takes action that individuals would not perform outside the group setting because groups make more extreme decisions than individuals do. Moreover, groupthink can hinder opposing trains of thought. This elimination of diverse opinions contributes to faulty decision making by the group.’
‘There have been several instances of groupthink in the U.S. government. One example occurred when the United States led a small coalition of nations to invade Iraq in March 2003.’ Intelligent people (well maybe) allowing themselves to be corrupted.
‘Why does groupthink occur? There are several causes of groupthink, which makes it preventable. When the group is highly cohesive, or has a strong sense of connection, maintaining group harmony may become more important to the group than making sound decisions. If the group leader is directive and makes his opinions known, this may discourage group members from disagreeing with the leader. If the group is isolated from hearing alternative or new viewpoints, groupthink may be more likely.’
‘There are several symptoms of groupthink including the following:
- perceiving the group as invulnerable or invincible—believing it can do no wrong
- believing the group is morally correct
- self-censorship by group members, such as withholding information to avoid disrupting the group consensus
- the quashing of dissenting group members’ opinions
- the shielding of the group leader from dissenting views
- perceiving an illusion of unanimity among group members
- holding stereotypes or negative attitudes toward the out-group or others’ with differing viewpoints
· Group Polarization
· Another phenomenon that occurs within group settings is group polarization. Group polarization is the strengthening of an original group attitude after the discussion of views within a group.’
‘That is, if a group initially favors a viewpoint, after discussion the group consensus is likely a stronger endorsement of the viewpoint. Conversely, if the group was initially opposed to a viewpoint, group discussion would likely lead to stronger opposition. Group polarization explains many actions taken by groups.’
‘Another way in which a group presence can affect our performance is social loafing. Social loafing is the exertion of less effort by a person working together with a group. Social loafing occurs when our individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the group. Thus, group performance declines on easy tasks.’
Personally, I think it matters more than anything to be an individual. Only then can you be fully genuine, and honest with integrity. If you decide to go with the group it should only be because you agree with them without succumbing to pressure, or knowing that in your agreement you have not compromised yourself, been dishonest or sacrificed some of your integrity. Once you start making the wrong decisions by compromising yourself you are on a slippery slope whereby it becomes easier to make this more of a pattern, then you become some ‘other person’ not genuinely you anymore.
Of course this is all easy to say. To do it fully, you need to be prepared to lose your job, your friends, and relationships, especially hard to do if you have a family. The hardest place to do this I have found is within the ‘group’ of the workplace. I have put my job on the line a couple of times, and I have resigned from one too. That was so as not to be compromised, and so as not to do dishonest and illegal things. At the time I was not in a relationship and had no family, so there was just me to worry about, so easier.
But I’ve always thought that if you cannot be genuine then what is the point of you?
