(in Polish) Group Dynamics

elective courses

In this course, we will consider group tasks and group decisions from a social psychological perspective. We will address important questions with regards to how individuals and groups mutually influence one another, whether a group is “greater than the sum of its parts”, and what strategies can be used to make groups more effective. We will apply psychological theories of groups to settings such as juries, teams, work groups, and government.

It is likely that groups have played an integral role in human interactions since hunters and gatherers began banding together to promote survival in evolutionary times. Since then, groups have grown in size and complexity to the point where interaction with and participation in groups is an almost unavoidable feature of human life.

The groups that are important to us vary widely across a variety of features. First, groups have many different purposes: a task group may be assigned to produce goods for a business, decision-making groups may need to determine whether a defendant should be sentenced to jail, and social groups may be focused on improving the well-being of members.

Second, groups can have a variety of different structures. This has to do with questions like how work is divided, what roles each member has, and

who has the final say in making decisions.

Third, groups can vary widely in duration. A group of people sharing a cab may last only a few moments, work groups may last for years, and a family may last for generations. Finally, groups can vary in size from a few people to full-scale societies. In this course, we will consider the wide range of possibilities for groups, but will focus mostly on small groups that complete tasks or make decisions.

The course will begin with an introduction to basic questions about groups and an overview of the course (Unit 1). The second part of the course (Unit 2-4) will be focused on group tasks. This will address questions of how group influence affects motivation and performance on tasks. We will consider different types of tasks and group structures. The third part of the course (Unit 5-7) will turn to group decision-making. We will consider the dynamic processes of how groups arrive at decisions in different contexts. Finally, we will consider teams as a special type of group (Unit 8).