2.05 Groups and Group Dynamics

• Introduction
• Learn
• Try It
• Task

Introduction

When you hear the word group, what do you think of? Do you think about your group of friends? Do you think about a team or club you are a member of? How do you know if you belong to a group? How does being a member affect your behavior?

Since you are a high school student, you spend the vast majority of your days around other people. Before and after school you most likely spend time with your family, friends, or at a job. In all of these situations, you are spending time with groups. Of course, some of these groups are larger than others - a group of your friends might be as small as three people whereas your place of employment might have hundreds of employees.

You learned in the previous lesson that groups are one of the five components of social structure. In this lesson, you will learn how belonging to groups affects your behavior in different ways, how social groups function, and how social groups are organized.