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Group dynamics

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Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group ( intra group dynamics), or between social groups ( inter group dynamics ). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making behaviour, tracking the spread of diseases in society, creating effective therapy techniques, and following the emergence and popularity of new ideas and technologies. These applications of the field are studied in psychology , sociology , anthropology , political science , epidemiology , education , social work , leadership studies , business and managerial studies, as well as communication studies .

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181-438: The history of group dynamics (or group processes) has a consistent, underlying premise: "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." A social group is an entity that has qualities which cannot be understood just by studying the individuals that make up the group. In 1924, Gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer proposed "There are entities where the behaviour of the whole cannot be derived from its individual elements nor from

362-539: A castration phobia as sons do, so this syndrome seems to be reserved for the opposite sex. Feminist psychoanalysts debate whether the father of psychoanalysis might have been a victim of sexism in this case. To compensate for the perceived disadvantage, they postulate a Jocasta complex consisting of an incestuous desire of mothers for their infant sons; but other analysts point out that Sophocles' Iokasta doesn't exhibit this behaviour. The witch's special interest in little Hansel (while she merely abuses his sister as

543-482: A 'group mind,' which had a distinct existence born from the interaction of individuals. Eventually, the social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890–1947) coined the term group dynamics to describe the positive and negative forces within groups of people. In 1945, he established The Group Dynamics Research Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , the first institute devoted explicitly to

724-466: A bad image of the ingroup and jeopardize people's social identity. In more recent studies, Marques and colleagues have shown that this occurs more strongly with regard to ingroup full members than other members. Whereas new members of a group must prove themselves to the full members to become accepted, full members have undergone socialization and are already accepted within the group. They have more privilege than newcomers but more responsibility to help

905-421: A balance between these two desires. That is, to be similar to others (those who you share group membership with), but also to be different from others (those who are outside of your group). In the social sciences, group cohesion refers to the processes that keep members of a social group connected. Terms such as attraction, solidarity, and morale are often used to describe group cohesion. It is thought to be one of

1086-399: A big role in helping them stay sober. Conditions do not need to be life-threatening, one's social group can help deal with work anxiety as well. When people are more socially connected have access to more support. Some of the health issues people have may also stem from their uncertainty about just where they stand among their colleagues. It has been shown that being well socially connected has

1267-570: A bus stop, or people waiting in a line. Characteristics shared by members of a group may include interests , values , representations , ethnic or social background, and kinship ties. Kinship ties being a social bond based on common ancestry, marriage or adoption. In a similar vein, some researchers consider the defining characteristic of a group as social interaction . According to Dunbar's number , on average , people cannot maintain stable social relationships with more than 150 individuals. Social psychologist Muzafer Sherif proposed to define

1448-615: A castration complex. The myth of Oedipus is about the attempt to liberate the 'amputated' potency of the id, but fails because of the remaining unconscious motives. As the ego is overwhelmed by the punitive fear of the moral content of its ‘preconscious’ superego, it cuts off the instinctive desire for knowledge from itself (blinds itself). Attempts to find a female equivalent of the Oedipus complex have not yielded good results. According to Freud, girls, because of their anatomically different genitals, cannot identify with their father, nor develop

1629-450: A causal factor of depression, publishing an influential paper in 1967 after a decade of research using the construct of schemas to explain the depression. Beck developed this empirically supported hypothesis for the cause of depression into a talking therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in the early 1970s. Attachment theory was developed theoretically by John Bowlby and formalized empirically by Mary Ainsworth . Bowlby

1810-400: A certain way; members of this group can be permanent ingroup members or temporary ingroup members. Examples of categories include groups with the same ethnicity, gender, religion, or nationality. This group is generally the largest type of group. The social groups people are involved with in the workplace directly affect their health. No matter where they work or what the occupation is, feeling

1991-472: A desire to be similar to others, but also a desire to differentiate themselves, ultimately seeking some balance of these two desires (to obtain optimal distinctiveness ). For example, one might imagine a young teenager in the United States who tries to balance these desires, not wanting to be ‘just like everyone else,’ but also wanting to ‘fit in’ and be similar to others. One's collective self may offer

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2172-420: A distinct and valued social identity that benefits our self-esteem. Our social identity and group membership also satisfies a need to belong. Of course, individuals belong to multiple groups. Therefore, one's social identity can have several, qualitatively distinct parts (for example, one's ethnic identity, religious identity, and political identity). Optimal distinctiveness theory suggests that individuals have

2353-412: A division of labor (role), and hence, within a cohesive group. Coming to understand territorial and dominance behaviors may thus help to clarify the development, functioning, and productivity of groups. Explicitly contrasted against a social cohesion based definition for social groups is the social identity perspective , which draws on insights made in social identity theory . Here, rather than defining

2534-474: A few separate groups. The military has been the best example as to how this is done in its hierarchical array of squads, platoons, companies, battalions, regiments, and divisions. Private companies, corporations, government agencies, clubs, and so on have all developed comparable (if less formal and standardized) systems when the number of members or employees exceeds the number that can be accommodated in an effective group. Not all larger social structures require

2715-511: A fifth stage for the dissolution of a group called adjourning . ( Adjourning may also be referred to as mourning , i.e. mourning the adjournment of the group). This model refers to the overall pattern of the group, but of course individuals within a group work in different ways. If distrust persists, a group may never even get to the norming stage. M. Scott Peck developed stages for larger-scale groups (i.e., communities) which are similar to Tuckman's stages of group development. Peck describes

2896-546: A flash mob, an audience at a movie, and a crowd watching a building burn. Categories are characterized by a collection of individuals who are similar in some way. Categories become groups when their similarities have social implications. For example, when people treat others differently because of certain aspects of their appearance or heritage, for example, this creates groups of different races. For this reason, categories can appear to be higher in entitativity and essentialism than primary, social, and collective groups. Entitativity

3077-503: A fundamental aspect of group structure as they provide direction and motivation, and organize the social interactions of members. Norms are said to be emergent, as they develop gradually throughout interactions between group members. While many norms are widespread throughout society, groups may develop their own norms that members must learn when they join the group. There are various types of norms, including: prescriptive, proscriptive, descriptive, and injunctive. Intermember Relations are

3258-422: A group can be reasonably flexible between five and ten, and a long-standing cohesive group may be able to tolerate a few hangers on. The key concept is that the value and success of a group is obtained by each member maintaining a distinct, functioning identity in the minds of each of the members. The cognitive limit to this span of attention in individuals is often set at seven. Rapid shifting of attention can push

3439-423: A group depends on the comparison level. To summarize, if membership in the group is above the comparison level for alternatives and above the comparison level, the membership within the group will be satisfying and an individual will be more likely to join the group. If membership in the group is above the comparison level for alternatives but below the comparison level, membership will be not be satisfactory; however,

3620-478: A group has begun to form, it can increase membership through a few ways. If the group is an open group, where membership boundaries are relatively permeable, group members can enter and leave the group as they see fit (often via at least one of the aforementioned Principles of Attraction). A closed group on the other hand, where membership boundaries are more rigid and closed, often engages in deliberate and/or explicit recruitment and socialization of new members. If

3801-564: A group in the first place, and how this self-grouping process underlies and determines all problems subsequent aspects of group behaviour. In his text, Group Dynamics, Forsyth (2010) discuses several common characteristics of groups that can help to define them. This group component varies greatly, including verbal or non-verbal communication, social loafing, networking, forming bonds, etc. Research by Bales (cite, 1950, 1999) determine that there are two main types of interactions; relationship interactions and task interactions. Most groups have

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3982-590: A group is determined by a number of different factors, including an individual's personal traits; gender; social motives such as need for affiliation, need for power, and need for intimacy; attachment style; and prior group experiences. Groups can offer some advantages to its members that would not be possible if an individual decided to remain alone, including gaining social support in the forms of emotional support, instrumental support, and informational support. It also offers friendship, potential new interests, learning new skills, and enhancing self esteem. However, joining

4163-444: A group is highly cohesive , it will likely engage in processes that contribute to cohesion levels, especially when recruiting new members, who can add to a group's cohesion, or destabilize it. Classic examples of groups with high cohesion are fraternities , sororities , gangs , and cults , which are all noted for their recruitment process, especially their initiation or hazing . In all groups, formal and informal initiations add to

4344-399: A group may also cost an individual time, effort, and personal resources as they may conform to social pressures and strive to reap the benefits that may be offered by the group. The Minimax Principle is a part of social exchange theory that states that people will join and remain in a group that can provide them with the maximum amount of valuable rewards while at the same time, ensuring

4525-412: A group over time. Roles involve the expected performance and conduct of people within the group depending on their status or position within the group. Norms are the ideas adopted by the group pertaining to acceptable and unacceptable conduct by members. Group structure is a very important part of a group. If people fail to meet their expectations within to groups, and fulfil their roles, they may not accept

4706-840: A group's cohesion and strengthens the bond between the individual and group by demonstrating the exclusiveness of group membership as well as the recruit's dedication to the group. Initiations tend to be more formal in more cohesive groups. Initiation is also important for recruitment because it can mitigate any cognitive dissonance in potential group members. In some instances, such as cults, recruitment can also be referred to as conversion. Kelman's Theory of Conversion identifies 3 stages of conversion: compliance (individual will comply or accept group's views, but not necessarily agree with them), identification (member begins to mimic group's actions, values, characteristics, etc.) and internalization (group beliefs and demands become congruent with member's personal beliefs, goals and values). This outlines

4887-595: A group. Other factors also influence the formation of a group. Extroverts may seek out groups more, as they find larger and more frequent interpersonal interactions stimulating and enjoyable (more than introverts ). Similarly, groups may seek out extroverts more than introverts, perhaps because they find they connect with extroverts more readily. Those higher in relationality (attentiveness to their relations with other people) are also likelier to seek out and prize group membership. Relationality has also been associated with extroversion and agreeableness. Similarly, those with

5068-425: A high level of role differentiation would be categorized as having many different roles that are specialized and narrowly defined. A key role in a group is the leader, but there are other important roles as well, including task roles, relationship roles, and individual roles. Functional (task) roles are generally defined in relation to the tasks the team is expected to perform. Individuals engaged in task roles focus on

5249-744: A high need for affiliation are more drawn to join groups, spend more time with groups and accept other group members more readily. Previous experiences with groups (good and bad) inform people's decisions to join prospective groups. Individuals will compare the rewards of the group (e.g. belonging, emotional support, informational support, instrumental support, spiritual support; see Uchino, 2004 for an overview) against potential costs (e.g. time, emotional energy). Those with negative or 'mixed' experiences with previous groups will likely be more deliberate in their assessment of potential groups to join, and with which groups they choose to join. (For more, see Minimax Principal , as part of Social Exchange Theory ) Once

5430-413: A kitchen slave) offers much better evidence here, although such 'Crunchy house syndrome' should not as omnipresent as the Oedipus complex. In the later second part of the 20th century, several Freud researchers questioned the author's perception that his patients had informed him of childhood sexual abuse. Some of them argued that Freud had imposed his preconceived view on his patients, while others raised

5611-666: A level of psychological distinctiveness is necessary for group formation. Through interaction, individuals begin to develop group norms, roles, and attitudes which define the group, and are internalized to influence behaviour. Emergent groups arise from a relatively spontaneous process of group formation. For example, in response to a natural disaster, an emergent response group may form. These groups are characterized as having no preexisting structure (e.g. group membership, allocated roles) or prior experience working together. Yet, these groups still express high levels of interdependence and coordinate knowledge, resources, and tasks. Joining

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5792-565: A member) to become ingroup members (i.e., social categories of which one is a member) with reasonable ease. Social groups, such as study-groups or coworkers, interact moderately over a prolonged period of time. In contrast, spontaneous collectives, such as bystanders or audiences of various sizes, exist only for a very brief period of time and it is very easy to become an ingroup member from an outgroup member and vice versa . Collectives may display similar actions and outlooks. Categories consist of individuals that are similar to one another in

5973-487: A mistake in private, to his friend and colleague Wilhelm Fliess in 1898; but it took another 8 years before he had clarified the obscure connections sufficiently enough to publicly revoke his thesis, stating the reasons. (Freud's final position on the origin of neurosis in general is summarized in his late work The Discomfort in Culture . According to this, the causes do not lie in general sexual abuse of children, but in

6154-518: A notion that was rejected by Freud and his followers at the time. By 1936 the "Principle of Multiple Function" was clarified by Robert Waelder . He widened the formulation that psychological symptoms were caused by and relieved conflict simultaneously. Moreover, symptoms (such as phobias and compulsions ) each represented elements of some drive wish (sexual and/or aggressive), superego, anxiety, reality, and defenses. Also in 1936, Anna Freud , Sigmund's daughter, published her seminal book, The Ego and

6335-634: A number of groups into categories based on their own criteria. Examples of groups to be sorted were a sports team, a family, people at a bus stop and women. It was found that participants consistently sorted groups into four categories: intimacy groups, task groups, loose associations, and social categories. These categories are conceptually similar to the four basic types to be discussed. Therefore, it seems that individuals intuitively define aggregations of individuals in this way. Primary groups are characterized by relatively small, long-lasting groups of individuals who share personally meaningful relationships. Since

6516-411: A number of individuals who have internalized the same social category membership as a component of their self concept." Stated otherwise, while the social cohesion approach expects group members to ask "who am I attracted to?", the social identity perspective expects group members to simply ask "who am I?" Empirical support for the social identity perspective on groups was initially drawn from work using

6697-413: A person who experienced more negative costs and fewer rewards in previous relationships and group memberships. According to the social exchange theory , group membership will be more satisfying to a new prospective member if the group's outcomes, in terms of costs and rewards, are above the individual's comparison level. As well, group membership will be unsatisfying to a new member if the outcomes are below

6878-457: A priori with the conditions of mental apparatus ), ideologies such as Marxism and the phenomenon of technological as well as cultural creativity of mankind and its zoological closest relatives. The idea of psychoanalysis began to receive serious attention in the 1890s; Freud called it first Free Association . During this time, he worked as a neurologist in a children's hospital, where attempts were made to develop an effective treatment for

7059-467: A rallying point for the team. However, some values (such as conformity ) can also be dysfunction and lead to poor decisions by the team. Communication patterns describe the flow of information within the group and they are typically described as either centralized or decentralized. With a centralized pattern, communications tend to flow from one source to all group members. Centralized communications allow standardization of information, but may restrict

7240-694: A reason for their existence, be it increasing the education and knowledge, receiving emotional support, or experiencing spirituality or religion. Groups can facilitate the achievement of these goals. The circumplex model of group tasks by Joseph McGrath organizes group related tasks and goals. Groups may focus on several of these goals, or one area at a time. The model divides group goals into four main types, which are further sub-categorized “The state of being dependent, to some degree, on other people, as when one's outcomes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and experiences are determined in whole or part by others." Some groups are more interdependent than others. For example,

7421-477: A research tool into childhood development, and is still used to treat certain mental disturbances. In the 1960s, Freud's early thoughts on the childhood development of female sexuality were challenged; this challenge led to the development of a variety of understandings of female sexual development, many of which modified the timing and normality of several of Freud's theories. Several researchers followed Karen Horney 's studies of societal pressures that influence

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7602-493: A research tool, the experimental application of which actually made it possible to eliminate symptoms of this kind. Paralysed people could suddenly walk again, blind ones could see. Although this effect is not known to last long – as Freud discovered in own experiments – the phenomenon of hypnotic false-healing played a decisive role in convincing him of the psycho-traumatical causation of the multifaceted neurotic clinical picture. Freud's first attempt to explain neurotical symptoms

7783-980: A sense of belonging in a peer group is a key to overall success. Part of this is the responsibility of the leader (manager, supervisor, etc.). If the leader helps everyone feel a sense of belonging within the group, it can help boost morale and productivity. According to Dr. Niklas Steffens "Social identification contributes to both psychological and physiological health, but the health benefits are stronger for psychological health". The social relationships people have can be linked to different health conditions. Lower quantity or quality social relationships have been connected to issues such as: development of cardiovascular disease , recurrent myocardial infarction , atherosclerosis , autonomic dysregulation, high blood pressure , cancer and delayed cancer recovery, and slower wound healing as well as inflammatory biomarkers and impaired immune function, factors associated with adverse health outcomes and mortality. The social relationship of marriage

7964-440: A sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties. For example, a society can be viewed as a large social group. The system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group or between social groups is known as group dynamics . A social group exhibits some degree of social cohesion and is more than a simple collection or aggregate of individuals, such as people waiting at

8145-425: A separate outgroup. This is called the black sheep effect. The way a person judges socially desirable and socially undesirable individuals depends upon whether they are part of the ingroup or outgroup. This phenomenon has been later accounted for by subjective group dynamics theory. According to this theory, people derogate socially undesirable (deviant) ingroup members relative to outgroup members, because they give

8326-405: A settled dominance-order; and weakening or failure of the leader to tend to the group. The actual loss of a leader is frequently fatal to a group, unless there was lengthy preparation for the transition. The loss of the leader tends to dissolve all dominance relationships, as well as weakening dedication to common purpose, differentiation of roles, and maintenance of norms. The most common symptoms of

8507-597: A significant impact on a person as they age, according to a 10-year study by the MacArthur Foundation, which was published in the book 'Successful Aging' the support, love, and care we feel through our social connections can help to counteract some of the health-related negatives of aging. Older people who were more active in social circles tended to be better off health-wise. Social groups tend to form based on certain principles of attraction, that draw individuals to affiliate with each other, eventually forming

8688-411: A social group based on expressions of cohesive social relationships between individuals, the social identity model assumes that "psychological group membership has primarily a perceptual or cognitive basis." It posits that the necessary and sufficient condition for individuals to act as group members is "awareness of a common category membership" and that a social group can be "usefully conceptualized as

8869-417: A social unit as a number of individuals interacting with each other with respect to: This definition succeeds in providing the researcher with the tools required to answer three important questions: The attention of those who use, participate in, or study groups has focused on functioning groups, on larger organizations, or on the decisions made in these organizations . Much less attention has been paid to

9050-417: A special role in the study of groups: they are necessarily prior to the formation of groups . The psychological internalization of territorial and dominance experiences in conscious and unconscious memory are established through the formation of social identity , personal identity , body concept, or self concept . An adequately functioning individual identity is necessary before an individual can function in

9231-460: A sports team would have a relatively high level of interdependence as compared to a group of people watching a movie at the movie theater. Also, interdependence may be mutual (flowing back and forth between members) or more linear/unilateral. For example, some group members may be more dependent on their boss than the boss is on each of the individuals. Group structure involves the emergence or regularities, norms, roles and relations that form within

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9412-400: A study of the individual. On the sociological side, Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), who was influenced by Wundt, also recognized collective phenomena, such as public knowledge. Other key theorists include Gustave Le Bon (1841–1931) who believed that crowds possessed a 'racial unconscious' with primitive, aggressive, and antisocial instincts, and William McDougall (psychologist) , who believed in

9593-413: A technical elaboration of the three-instance model of the psyche and examined primarily the logical structure of the unconscious . Freud distinguished between the conscious and unconscious realms of the psyche and argued that the contents of unconscious largely determine cognition and behaviour . He found that many of the drives – since his structural model located in the ‘id’ – are repressed into

9774-641: A technique for bringing repressed content back into the consciousness, in particular the diagnostic interpretation of dreams . Overall, psychoanalysis is a method for the treatment of mental disorders . Founded in the early 1890s, initially in co-operation with Josef Breuer 's and others' clinical research, Freud continued to revise and refine theory and practice of psychoanalysis until his death in 1939. An encyclopaedic article quotes him with following cornerstones of psychoanalysis: Using similar psychoanalytical terms, Freud's earlier colleagues Alfred Adler and Carl Jung developed their own therapeutic methods,

9955-436: A troubled group are loss of efficiency, diminished participation, or weakening of purpose, as well as an increase in verbal aggression. Often, if a strong common purpose is still present, a simple reorganization with a new leader and a few new members will be sufficient to re-establish the group, which is somewhat easier than forming an entirely new group. This is the most common factor. Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis

10136-414: A very similar group property. For example, Emile Durkheim described two forms of solidarity (mechanical and organic), which created a sense of collective conscious and an emotion-based sense of community. Beliefs within the ingroup are based on how individuals in the group see their other members. Individuals tend to upgrade likeable in-group members and deviate from unlikeable group members, making them

10317-571: A ‘latency’ break – the Sleeping Beauty – between the ages of about 7 and 12 for benefit social-intellectual growth. Psychoanalysts place large emphasis on experiences of early childhood , try to overcome infantile amnesia . In traditional Freudian setting, the patient lies on a couch, and the analyst sits just behind or somehow out of sight. The patient should express all his thoughts, all secrets and dreams, including free associations and fantasies . In addition to its task of strengthening

10498-430: Is a theory developed by Sigmund Freud . It describes the human mind as an apparatus that emerged along the path of evolution and consists mainly of three functionally interlocking instances: a set of innate needs, a consciousness to satisfy them by ruling the muscular apparatus, and a memory for storing experiences that arises during this. Furthermore the theory includes insights into the effects of traumatic education and

10679-415: Is about Oedipus' own sexual desire addresses to his mother Jocasta – admittedly as an already genitally mature man and without knowing about the close blood relationship including an not less unconscious patricide – which the woman reciprocates just as unsuspectingly. Freud interprets the passage where Oedipus – after realising his serious violation of the moral-totemic incest taboo – pokes out his eyes with

10860-700: Is characterized by a formally organized group of individuals who are not as emotionally involved with each other as those in a primary group. These groups tend to be larger, with shorter memberships compared to primary groups. Further, social groups do not have as stable memberships, since members are able to leave their social group and join new groups. The goals of social groups are often task-oriented as opposed to relationship-oriented. Examples of social groups include coworkers, clubs, and sports teams. Collectives are characterized by large groups of individuals who display similar actions or outlooks. They are loosely formed, spontaneous, and brief. Examples of collectives include

11041-435: Is defined by Campbell as the extent to which collections of individuals are perceived to be a group. The degree of entitativity that a group has is influenced by whether a collection of individuals experience the same fate, display similarities, and are close in proximity. If individuals believe that a group is high in entitativity, then they are likely to believe that the group has unchanging characteristics that are essential to

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11222-445: Is done in an effort to avoid becoming an outcast of the group. Outcasts who behave in a way that might jeopardize the group tend to be treated more harshly than the likeable ones in a group, creating a black sheep effect. Full members of a fraternity might treat the incoming new members harshly, causing the pledges to decide if they approve of the situation and if they will voice their disagreeing opinions about it. Individual behaviour

11403-501: Is important that other group members perceive an individual's status to be warranted and deserved, as otherwise they may not have authority within the group. Status differentials may affect the relative amount of pay among group members and they may also affect the group's tolerance to violation of group norms (e.g. people with higher status may be given more freedom to violate group norms). Forsyth suggests that while many daily tasks undertaken by individuals could be performed in isolation,

11584-446: Is impossible to have precisely defined concepts from the outset, respectively phenomena that from now on have been clarified without any gaps and contradictions. "Indeed, even physics would have missed out on its entire development if it had been forced to wait until its concepts of matter, energy, gravity and others reached the desirable clarity and precision." The psychologist Frank Sulloway points out in his book Freud, Biologist of

11765-492: Is indispensable for the diagnostic prozess ( sickness can only be realised as a deviation from health : the optimal cooperation of all mental-organic functions), but Freud had to be modest. He had to leave his model of human's soul in the unfinished state of a torso because – as he stated one last time in Moses and Monotheism – there was no well-founded primate research in the first half of 20th century. Without knowledge of

11946-608: Is influenced by the presence of others. For example, studies have found that individuals work harder and faster when others are present (see social facilitation ), and that an individual's performance is reduced when others in the situation create distraction or conflict. Groups also influence individual's decision-making processes. These include decisions related to ingroup bias , persuasion (see Asch conformity experiments ), obedience (see Milgram Experiment ), and groupthink . There are both positive and negative implications of group influence on individual behaviour. This type of influence

12127-439: Is no longer the decisive factor here, but the specific function of each of the three instances. This new model did not replace the first one: it integrated it.) The Interpretation of Dreams includes the first comprehensive conceptualisation of Oedipus complex : The little boy admires his father because of the mental and physical advantages of the adult man and wants to become like him, but also comes into conflict with him over

12308-622: Is not a child's desire ), but as a method whose appropriation is open to everyone. In the Wednesday round of young psychoanalysis, academics and ‘uneducated’ worked together on an equal footing to rediscover the happiness lost in the Dark Continent of the human soul – not easy to understand for some outsiders. In order to counteract misunderstandings, Freud clearly sets out the only condition for being able to pursue this interest seriously in his treatise on The Question of Lay Analysis :

12489-403: Is not yet able to help himself due to inexperience. ) From the sum of what is shown and communicated, the analyst deduces unconscious conflicts with imposed traumas that are causing the patient's symptoms, his persona and character problems, and works out a diagnosis . This explanation of the origin of loss of mental health and the analytical processes as a whole confronts the patients ego with

12670-432: Is often their first experience with a group. For example, individuals are born into a primary group, their family, which creates a foundation for them to base their future relationships. Individuals can be born into a primary group; however, primary groups can also form when individuals interact for extended periods of time in meaningful ways. Examples of primary groups include family, close friends, and gangs. A social group

12851-773: Is often useful in the context of work settings, team sports, and political activism. However, the influence of groups on the individual can also generate extremely negative behaviours, evident in Nazi Germany, the My Lai Massacre , and in the Abu Ghraib prison (also see Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse ). A group's structure is the internal framework that defines members' relations to one another over time. Frequently studied elements of group structure include roles, norms, values, communication patterns, and status differentials. Group structure has also been defined as

13032-585: Is radically different from the social behavior in animals because of the human capacity for language use and rationality. Of course, while this is true, it is equally likely that the study of the social (group) behaviors of other animals might shed light on the evolutionary roots of social behavior in people. Territorial and dominance behaviors in humans are so universal and commonplace that they are simply taken for granted (though sometimes admired, as in home ownership, or deplored, as in violence). But these social behaviors and interactions between human individuals play

13213-412: Is similar to the study of culture . For example, there are group dynamics in the U.S. South that sustain a culture of honor , which is associated with norms of toughness, honour-related violence, and self-defence. Group formation starts with a psychological bond between individuals. The social cohesion approach suggests that group formation comes out of bonds of interpersonal attraction . In contrast,

13394-406: Is the most studied of all, the marital history over the course of one's life can form differing health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, chronic conditions, mobility limitations, self-rated health, and depressive symptoms. Social connectedness also plays a large part in overcoming certain conditions such as drug, alcohol, or substance abuse. With these types of issues, a person's peer group play

13575-405: Is the standard by which an individual will evaluate the desirability of becoming a member of the group and forming new social relationships within the group. This comparison level is influenced by previous relationships and membership in different groups. Those individuals who have experienced positive rewards with few costs in previous relationships and groups will have a higher comparison level than

13756-471: Is top dog here?), and affection (do I belong here?). Schutz sees groups resolving each issue in turn in order to be able to progress to the next stage. Conversely, a struggling group can devolve to an earlier stage, if unable to resolve outstanding issues at its present stage. Schutz referred to these group dynamics as "the interpersonal underworld," group processes which are largely unseen and un-acknowledged, as opposed to "content" issues, which are nominally

13937-480: The psychosexual phases , which categorised early childhood development into five stages depending on what sexual affinity a child possessed at the stage: His early formulation included the idea that because of societal restrictions, sexual wishes were repressed into an unconscious state, and that the energy of these unconscious wishes could be result in anxiety or physical symptoms. Early treatment techniques, including hypnotism and abreaction , were designed to make

14118-459: The social identity approach suggests that a group starts when a collection of individuals perceive that they share some social category (‘smokers’, ‘nurses,’ ‘students,’ ‘hockey players’), and that interpersonal attraction only secondarily enhances the connection between individuals. Additionally, from the social identity approach, group formation involves both identifying with some individuals and explicitly not identifying with others. So to say,

14299-526: The Eros of Socratic-Platonic philosophy. Freud attached great importance to coherence of his structural model . The metapsychological specification of the functions and interlocking of the three instances was intended to ensure the full connectivity of this ‘psychic apparatus’ with biological sciences, in particular Darwin's theory of evolution of species, including mankind with his behaviour, natural thinking ability and technological creativity. Such insight

14480-475: The Phobia of a five-year-old boy . However, Freud not only discovered this complex and the 'oral fixatet' Syndrom of Narzissos' regress back into amniotic fluid (as far as possible given the state of science at the time), but also devised a hypothesis of healthy emotional development, which by nature completes in three successive stages: the oral, anal and genital phases . Whereby the sexual drive of latter takes

14661-469: The boundaries of the group. Often, there are distinct subgroups within a more broadly defined group. For example, one could define U.S. residents (‘Americans’) as a group, but could also define a more specific set of U.S. residents (for example, 'Americans in the South'). For each of these groups, there are distinct dynamics that can be discussed. Notably, on this very broad level, the study of group dynamics

14842-477: The id and the ego's conscious values, which manifests itself in more or less conspicuous mental disorders, although Freud did not equate the statistical normality of our society with ‘healthy’. "Health can only be described in metapsychological terms." He discovered that the instinctive impulses are expressed most clearly – albeit still encoded – in the symbols of dreams as well as in the symptomatic detours of neuroticism and Freudian slips . Psychoanalysis

15023-480: The minimal group paradigm . For example, it has been shown that the mere act of allocating individuals to explicitly random categories is sufficient to lead individuals to act in an ingroup favouring fashion (even where no individual self-interest is possible). Also problematic for the social cohesion account is recent research showing that seemingly meaningless categorization can be an antecedent of perceptions of interdependence with fellow category members. While

15204-399: The self-esteem of an individual, members of the in-group may experience different private beliefs about the group's activities but will publicly express the opposite—that they actually share these beliefs. One member may not personally agree with something the group does, but to avoid the black sheep effect, they will publicly agree with the group and keep the private beliefs to themselves. If

15385-444: The synthetic function of the ego as a mediator in psychic functioning, distinguishing such from autonomous ego functions (e.g. memory and intellect). These "ego psychologists" of the 1950s paved a way to focus analytic work by attending to the defenses (mediated by the ego) before exploring the deeper roots to the unconscious conflicts. In addition, there was growing interest in child psychoanalysis . Psychoanalysis has been used as

15566-549: The teleological element of his three-fold soul model, a desiring energy that links cause and purpose , instead of mere ‘effect’. This universal force embodies the psychicaly source that drives all instinctual needs of living beings, as well as the First Cause of their physicaly evolution. On this path, sexual behaviour realises Darwin's Law of Natural Selection by favouring the most fitting and aesthetically well-proportioned body forms in reproduction. Of course Freud

15747-433: The 1950s. Also, they have been largely neglected by policy makers, sociologists and anthropologists. Indeed, vast literature on organization, property, law enforcement, ownership, religion, warfare, values, conflict resolution, authority, rights, and families have grown and evolved without any reference to any analogous social behaviors in animals. This disconnect may be the result of the belief that social behavior in humankind

15928-543: The Mechanisms of Defense , outlining numerous ways the mind could shut upsetting things out of consciousness. When Hitler 's power grew, the Freud family and many of their colleagues fled to London. Within a year, Sigmund Freud died. In the United States, also following the death of Freud, a new group of psychoanalysts began to explore the function of the ego. Led by Heinz Hartmann , the group built upon understandings of

16109-641: The Mind: Beyond the Psychoanalytic Legend that the theories and hypotheses of psychoanalysis are anchored in the findings of contemporary biology. He mentions the profound influence of Charles Darwin ‘s theory of evolution on Freud and quotes this sense from the writings of Haeckel , Wilhelm Fliess , Krafft-Ebing and Havelock Ellis . In 1905, Freud published Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality in which he laid out his discovery of

16290-460: The Oedipal model. For his work, Bowlby was shunned from psychoanalytical circles who did not accept his theories. Nonetheless, his conceptualization was adopted widely by mother-infant research in the 1970s. The predominant psychoanalytic theories can be organised into several theoretical schools. Although these perspectives differ, most of them emphasize the influence of unconscious elements on

16471-467: The Pattern of Fascist Propaganda , and said that "It is not an overstatement if we say that Freud, though he was hardly interested in the political phase of the problem, clearly foresaw the rise and nature of fascist mass movements in purely psychological categories." Jacob L. Moreno was a psychiatrist, dramatist, philosopher and theoretician who coined the term "group psychotherapy" in the early 1930s and

16652-534: The ability of a group to accomplish the work it was nominally engaged in. Bion's experiences are reported in his published books, especially Experiences in Groups. The Tavistock Institute has further developed and applied the theory and practices developed by Bion. Bruce Tuckman (1965) proposed the four-stage model called Tuckman's Stages for a group. Tuckman's model states that the ideal group decision-making process should occur in four stages: Tuckman later added

16833-511: The agenda of group meetings. Wilfred Bion (1961) studied group dynamics from a psychoanalytic perspective, and stated that he was much influenced by Wilfred Trotter for whom he worked at University College Hospital London, as did another key figure in the Psychoanalytic movement, Ernest Jones . He discovered several mass group processes which involved the group as a whole adopting an orientation which, in his opinion, interfered with

17014-467: The ancient trap to pacify political conflicts among the groups of Neolithic mankind. (See Prometheus ' uprising against Zeus, who created Pandora as a fatal wedding gift for Epimetheus to divide and rule the titanic brothers; Plato's myth of spherical men cut into isolated individuals for the same reason; and the similarly resolved revolt of inferior gods in the Flood epic Atra-Hasis ). Nonetheless, due to

17195-529: The brain but, rather, mental processes. Although Freud retained this theory throughout his life, he largely replaced it with the structural theory . Structural theory divides the psyche into the id , the ego , and the super-ego . The id is present at birth as the repository of basic instincts, which Freud called " Triebe " ("drives"). Unorganized and unconscious, it operates merely on the 'pleasure principle', without realism or foresight. The ego develops slowly and gradually, being concerned with mediating between

17376-446: The chance that groups will be successful. These include: Intragroup dynamics (also referred to as ingroup-, within-group, or commonly just ‘group dynamics’) are the underlying processes that give rise to a set of norms, roles, relations, and common goals that characterize a particular social group . Examples of groups include religious, political, military, and environmental groups, sports teams, work groups, and therapy groups. Amongst

17557-535: The child would therefore be the prerequisite for the later development of hysterical and other kinds of neurotical symptoms. It contradicts the seduction thesis that Freud reported in the same year about patients who expressed their "emphatic disbelief" in this respect: that they "had no feeling of remembering the infantile sexual scenes". In the course of his further research, Freud began to doubt his thesis that such abuse should be almost omnipresent in our society. Initially he expressed his suspicion of having made

17738-462: The cohesion that may be found in the small group. Consider the neighborhood, the country club , or the megachurch , which are basically territorial organizations who support large social purposes. Any such large organizations may need only islands of cohesive leadership. For a functioning group to attempt to add new members in a casual way is a certain prescription for failure, loss of efficiency, or disorganization. The number of functioning members in

17919-402: The common goal and within the particular group. Some individuals may withdraw from interaction or be excluded from the developing group. Depending on the number of individuals in the original collection of strangers, and the number of "hangers-on" that are tolerated, one or more competing groups of ten or less may form, and the competition for territory and dominance will then also be manifested in

18100-405: The connections among the members of a group, or the social network within a group. Group members are linked to one another at varying levels. Examining the intermember relations of a group can highlight a group's density (how many members are linked to one another), or the degree centrality of members (number of ties between members). Analysing the intermember relations aspect of a group can highlight

18281-599: The conscious. There has also been considerable work done on consolidating elements of conflicting theories. There are some persistent conflicts among psychoanalysts regarding specific causes of certain syndromes, and some disputes regarding the ideal treatment techniques. In the 21st century, psychoanalytic ideas have found influence in fields such as childcare , education , literary criticism , cultural studies , mental health , and particularly psychotherapy . Though most mainstream psychoanalysts subscribe to modern strains of psychoanalytical thought, there are groups who follow

18462-429: The definition of group provided by Sherif . The two most common causes of a malfunctioning group are the addition of too many individuals, and the failure of the leader to enforce a common purpose, though malfunctions may occur due to a failure of any of the other elements (i.e., confusions status or of norms). In a society, there is a need for more people to participate in cooperative endeavors than can be accommodated by

18643-441: The degree centrality of each member in the group, which can lead to a better understanding of the roles of certain group (e.g. an individual who is a 'go-between' in a group will have closer ties to numerous group members which can aid in communication, etc.). Values are goals or ideas that serve as guiding principles for the group. Like norms, values may be communicated either explicitly or on an ad hoc basis. Values can serve as

18824-403: The demands of innate needs and externally imposed behavioural rules that prohibit their satisfaction. Freud called the former the primary process , taking place predominantly in the unconscious, and the latter the secondary process of predominantly conscious, more or less coherent thoughts. Freud summarised this view in his first model of the soul. Known as the topological model , it divides

19005-509: The development of an Oedipal complex . Freud's theories, however, characterized no such phase. According to Freud, the Oedipus complex was at the centre of neurosis, and was the foundational source of all art, myth, religion, philosophy, therapy—indeed of all human culture and civilization. It was the first time that anyone in Freud's inner circle had characterised something other than the Oedipus complex as contributing to intrapsychic development,

19186-688: The development of women. In the first decade of the 21st century, there were approximately 35 training institutes for psychoanalysis in the United States accredited by the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), which is a component organization of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), and there are over 3000 graduated psychoanalysts practicing in the United States. The IPA accredits psychoanalytic training centers through such "component organisations" throughout

19367-541: The distribution of resources, the choices of means and different subgoals, the development of what are appropriate norms, rewards and punishments. Some of these conflicts will be territorial in nature: i.e., jealousy over roles, or locations, or favored relationships. But most will be involved with struggles for status, ranging from mild protests to serious verbal conflicts and even dangerous violence. By analogy to animal behavior, sociologists may term these behaviors territorial behaviors and dominance behaviors . Depending on

19548-422: The ego with its ability to think dialectical – Freud's primacy of intellect –, therapy also aims to induce transference . The patient thus projects his educated him mother and father as internalised in his superego since birth onto the analyst. As he once did as a baby and little child, he experiences again the feelings of helpless dependence, all the futile longing for love, anger, rage and urge for revenge on

19729-401: The failing parents, but now with the possibility of processing these contents that have chaped his persona. ( All people who have been brought up in moralic culturs project irrational fears and hopes for happiness everywhere. The term Countertransference means that the analyst himself projects such content onto his patient; then he has an own open problem and has to go to his own analyst if he

19910-518: The first international congress of psychoanalysis held in Salzburg, Austria. Alfred Adler was one of the most active members in this society in its early years. The second congress of psychoanalysis took place in Nuremberg, Germany in 1910. At this congress, Ferenczi called for the creation of an International Psychoanalytic Association with Jung as president for life. A third congress

20091-468: The free flow of information. Decentralized communications make it easy to share information directly between group members. When decentralized, communications tend to flow more freely, but the delivery of information may not be as fast or accurate as with centralized communications. Another potential downside of decentralized communications is the sheer volume of information that can be generated, particularly with electronic media. Status differentials are

20272-698: The goals of the group and on enabling the work that members do; examples of task roles include coordinator, recorder, critic, or technician. A group member engaged in a relationship role (or socioemotional role) is focused on maintaining the interpersonal and emotional needs of the groups' members; examples of relationship role include encourager, harmonizer, or compromiser. Norms are the informal rules that groups adopt to regulate members' behaviour. Norms refer to what should be done and represent value judgments about appropriate behaviour in social situations. Although they are infrequently written down or even discussed, norms have powerful influence on group behaviour. They are

20453-457: The golden needle clasp of his wife's and mother's nightdress (while Jocasta commits suicide) as a manifestation of the same ‘cover-up’ mechanism that he began to uncover in the above-mentioned fantasies. In his eyes psychoanalysis works in opposite direction to this mechanism of preconscious self-delusion, by bringing the due to incest taboo have been repressed desires (the ‘id’) back into realm of inner perception, own conscious thinking. This raised

20634-435: The group achieve its goals. Marginal members were once full members but lost membership because they failed to live up to the group's expectations. They can rejoin the group if they go through re-socialization. Therefore, full members' behavior is paramount to define the ingroup's image. Bogart and Ryan surveyed the development of new members' stereotypes about in-groups and out-groups during socialization. Results showed that

20815-467: The group, known as essentialism. Examples of categories are New Yorkers, gamblers, and women. The social group is a critical source of information about individual identity. We naturally make comparisons between our own group and other groups, but we do not necessarily make objective comparisons. Instead, we make evaluations that are self-enhancing, emphasizing the positive qualities of our own group (see ingroup bias ). In this way, these comparisons give us

20996-789: The group, or be accepted by other group members. When viewed holistically, a group is greater than the sum of its individual parts. When people speak of groups, they speak of the group as a whole, or an entity, rather than speaking of it in terms of individuals. For example, it would be said that "The band played beautifully." Several factors play a part in this image of unity, including group cohesiveness, and entitativity (appearance of cohesion by outsiders). Donelson R. Forsyth distinguishes four main types of groups: primary groups, social groups, collectives, and categories. Primary groups are small, long-term groups characterized by high amounts of cohesiveness, of member-identification, of face-to-face interaction, and of solidarity. Such groups may act as

21177-526: The group. Groups can vary drastically from one another. For example, three best friends who interact every day as well as a collection of people watching a movie in a theater both constitute a group. Past research has identified four basic types of groups which include, but are not limited to: primary groups, social groups, collective groups, and categories. It is important to define these four types of groups because they are intuitive to most lay people. For example, in an experiment, participants were asked to sort

21358-573: The group” (Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950, p. 37). Later, this definition was modified to describe the forces acting on individual members to remain in the group, termed attraction to the group . Since then, several models for understanding the concept of group cohesion have been developed, including Albert Carron's hierarchical model and several bi-dimensional models (vertical v. horizontal cohesion, task v. social cohesion, belongingness and morale, and personal v. social attraction). Before Lewin and Festinger, there were, of course, descriptions of

21539-806: The ideas of id, ego, and superego in The Ego and the Id . In the book, he revised the whole theory of mental functioning, now considering that repression was only one of many defense mechanisms, and that it occurred to reduce anxiety. Hence, Freud characterised repression as both a cause and a result of anxiety. In 1926, in "Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety", Freud characterised how intrapsychic conflict among drive and superego caused anxiety , and how that anxiety could lead to an inhibition of mental functions, such as intellect and speech. In 1924, Otto Rank published The Trauma of Birth , which analysed culture and philosophy in relation to separation anxiety which occurred before

21720-423: The individual will likely join the group since no other desirable options are available. When group membership is below the comparison level for alternatives but above the comparison level, membership is satisfying but an individual will be unlikely to join. If group membership is below both the comparison and alternative comparison levels, membership will be dissatisfying and the individual will be less likely to join

21901-432: The individual's comparison level. Comparison level only predicts how satisfied a new member will be with the social relationships within the group. To determine whether people will actually join or leave a group, the value of other, alternative groups needs to be taken into account. This is called the comparison level for alternatives. This comparison level for alternatives is the standard by which an individual will evaluate

22082-510: The instinctive social behaviour and other abilities of our genetically closest relatives in realm of animals, his thesis of the Darwinian primordial horde (as presented for discussion in Totem and Taboo ) cannot be tested and, where necessary, replaced by a realistic model. Horde life and its violent abolition via introduction of monogamy (as a political agreement between the sons who murdered

22263-441: The inter group transactions. Two or more people in interacting situations will over time develop stable territorial relationships. As described above, these may or may not develop into groups. But stable groups can also break up in to several sets of territorial relationships. There are numerous reasons for stable groups to "malfunction" or to disperse, but essentially this is because of loss of compliance with one or more elements of

22444-508: The lack of ethological primate research, these ideas remained an unproven belief of palaeo-anthropological science – only a hypothesis or " just so story as a not unpleasant English critic wittily called it. But I mean it honours a hypothesis if it shows capable of creating context and understanding in new areas." The author illustrated the conflict of today's son with his father over his mother by naming it after Sophocles ' tragedy Oedipus , supplementing this view with case studies such as

22625-757: The leader and with other members) in groups as a motivation for behavior in Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego . In that same year, Freud suggested his dual drive theory of sexuality and aggression in Beyond the Pleasure Principle , to try to begin to explain human destructiveness. Also, it was the first appearance of his "structural theory" consisting of three new concepts id, ego, and superego . Three years later, in 1923, he summarised

22806-530: The limit to about ten. After ten, subgroups will inevitably start to form with the attendant loss of purpose, dominance-order, and individuality, with confusion of roles and rules. The standard classroom with twenty to forty pupils and one teacher offers a rueful example of one supposed leader juggling a number of subgroups. Weakening of the common purpose once a group is well established can be attributed to: adding new members; unsettled conflicts of identities (i.e., territorial problems in individuals); weakening of

22987-571: The living soul: The brain with its nervous system extending over the entire organism and the acts of consciousness. In Freud's view, therefore any number of phenomena can be integrated between " both endpoints of our knowledge " (including the findings of modern neurology), but this only contribute to the spatial " localisation of the acts of consciousness ", not to their understanding. With reference to Descartes, contemporary neuropsychoanalysts explain this situation as mind-body dichotomy , namely both as two total different kinds of 'stuff': an objekt and

23168-403: The members of a group, there is a state of interdependence, through which the behaviours, attitudes, opinions, and experiences of each member are collectively influenced by the other group members. In many fields of research, there is an interest in understanding how group dynamics influence individual behaviour, attitudes, and opinions. The dynamics of a particular group depend on how one defines

23349-407: The members of these groups often interact face-to-face, they know each other very well and are unified. Individuals that are a part of primary groups consider the group to be an important part of their lives. Consequently, members strongly identify with their group, even without regular meetings. Cooley believed that primary groups were essential for integrating individuals into their society since this

23530-528: The methodical examination of one's own inner situation, wherever possible with assistance of an already experienced psychoanalyst. Psychoanalysis has been a controversial discipline from the outset and its effectiveness as a treatment remains contested, although its influence on psychology and psychiatry is undisputed. Psychoanalytic perspectives are also widely used outside the therapeutic field, for example in film and literary criticism , interpretation of fairy tales or philosophical concepts ( replacing Kant's

23711-559: The minimum amount of costs to themselves. However, this does not necessarily mean that a person will join a group simply because the reward/cost ratio seems attractive. According to Howard Kelley and John Thibaut, a group may be attractive to us in terms of costs and benefits, but that attractiveness alone does not determine whether or not we will join the group. Instead, our decision is based on two factors: our comparison level, and our comparison level for alternatives. In John Thibaut and Harold Kelley's social exchange theory , comparison level

23892-469: The more conscious parts on the other hand would aim to make these morally forbidden acts of childish pleasure unrecognisable, to cover up them. The interesting point for Freud here was not so much the secretiveness itself (a well-known behaviour of Victorian era ), but the following twofold realisation: That children – at that time considered as innocent little angels – initiate pleasurable actions of their own accord (have ‘drives’ at all, as later assigned to

24073-435: The more ubiquitous and universal social behaviors that do not clearly demonstrate one or more of the five necessary elements described by Sherif. Some of the earliest efforts to understand these social units have been the extensive descriptions of urban street gangs in the 1920s and 1930s, continuing through the 1950s, which understood them to be largely reactions to the established authority. The primary goal of gang members

24254-594: The most important characteristics of a group, and has been linked to group performance, intergroup conflict and therapeutic change. Group cohesion, as a scientifically studied property of groups, is commonly associated with Kurt Lewin and his student, Leon Festinger . Lewin defined group cohesion as the willingness of individuals to stick together, and believed that without cohesiveness a group could not exist. As an extension of Lewin's work, Festinger (along with Stanley Schachter and Kurt Back) described cohesion as, “the total field of forces which act on members to remain in

24435-450: The need to control. A community is born when its members reach a stage of "emptiness" or peace . Richard Hackman developed a synthetic, research-based model for designing and managing work groups. Hackman suggested that groups are successful when they satisfy internal and external clients, develop capabilities to perform in the future, and when members find meaning and satisfaction in the group. Hackman proposed five conditions that increase

24616-849: The neuronal-biochemical processes that permanently store experiences in the brain – like engraving the proverbial tabula rasa with some code – belongs to the physiological branch of science and lead in a different direction of research than the psychological question of what the differences between consciousness and unconsciousness are. After some thought about a suitable term, Freud called his new instrument and field of research psychoanalysis , introduced in his essay “Inheritance and Etiology of Neuroses”, written and published in French in 1896. In 1896, Freud also published his seduction theory , in which he assumed as certain that he had uncovered repressed memories of incidents of sexual abuse in each of his previous patients. This type of sexual excitations of

24797-415: The new members judged themselves as consistent with the stereotypes of their in-groups, even when they had recently committed to join those groups or existed as marginal members. They also tended to judge the group as a whole in an increasingly less positive manner after they became full members. However, there is no evidence that this affects the way they are judged by other members. Nevertheless, depending on

24978-409: The next generation through concrete or threatened punishments. Moral education creates fears of punitive violence or the deprive of love in the child's soul. They are stored neuronally in the preconscious and influences the consciousness in the sense of the imprinted rules of behaviour. (Freud's second model of the soul, the three-instance or structural model , introduces a clearer distinction. Topology

25159-407: The organism into three areas or systems: The unconscious, the preconscious and the conscious. Sexual needs belong to the unconscious and are forced to remain there if the contents of conscious ward them off. This is the case in societys that generally consider all extra- and premarital sexual activity – including homoeroticism, that of biblical Onan and incest – to be a ‘sin’, passing this value on to

25340-442: The pathological defence mechanisms, makes him aware of them as well as the instinctive contents of the id that have been repressed by them, and thus helps him to better understand himself and the world in which he lives, was born and educated. Not least this includes the fact that the neurological branch of psychoanalysis recently provided evidence that the brain stores experiences in specialised neuronal networks (memory function of

25521-487: The person is privately self-aware , he or she is more likely to comply with the group even if they possibly have their own beliefs about the situation. In situations of hazing within fraternities and sororities on college campuses, pledges may encounter this type of situation and may outwardly comply with the tasks they are forced to do regardless of their personal feelings about the Greek institution they are joining. This

25702-462: The polygamous forefather of the horde) embodies the evolutionary-theoretical as well as cultural-prehistorical core of psychoanalysis. Further important assumptions are based on it, such as the origin of Oedipus complex, the moral-totemic rules of behaviour and, not least, Freud's Unease in Culture . They stand in contrast to the religiously enigmatic reports about the origin of monogamous couples on earth as an expression of divine will, but closer to

25883-544: The precepts of a single psychoanalyst and their school of thought. Psychoanalytic ideas also play roles in some types of literary analysis such as archetypal literary criticism . Topographic theory was named and first described by Sigmund Freud in The Interpretation of Dreams (1899). The theory hypothesizes that the mental apparatus can be divided into the systems Conscious , Preconscious , and Unconscious . These systems are not anatomical structures of

26064-483: The preference is to perform with other people. Social group 1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville  ·  Marx ·  Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto ·  Tönnies · Veblen ·  Simmel · Durkheim ·  Addams ·  Mead · Weber ·  Du Bois ·  Mannheim · Elias In the social sciences , a social group is defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have

26245-478: The pressure of the common goal and on the various skills of individuals, differentiations of leadership, dominance, or authority will develop. Once these relationships solidify, with their defined roles, norms, and sanctions, a productive group will have been established. Aggression is the mark of unsettled dominance order. Productive group cooperation requires that both dominance order and territorial arrangements (identity, self-concept) be settled with respect to

26426-405: The principal source of socialization for individuals as primary groups may shape an individual's attitudes, values, and social orientation. Three sub-groups of primary groups are: Social groups are also small groups but are of moderate duration. These groups often form due to a common goal. In this type of group, it is possible for outgroup members (i.e., social categories of which one is not

26607-688: The process of how new members can become deeply connected to the group. If one brings a small collection of strangers together in a restricted space and environment, provides a common goal and maybe a few ground rules, then a highly probable course of events will follow. Interaction between individuals is the basic requirement. At first, individuals will differentially interact in sets of twos or threes while seeking to interact with those with whom they share something in common: i.e., interests, skills, and cultural background. Relationships will develop some stability in these small sets, in that individuals may temporarily change from one set to another, but will return to

26788-505: The psychological aspects of the human mind with emphasis on repression, the dynamics of dreams, therapeutic relationships. Neuroimaging is one of the methods used to empirically validate psychoanalytic concepts. Ego psychology was initially suggested by Freud in Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety (1926), while major steps forward would be made through Anna Freud 's work on defense mechanisms , first published in her book The Ego and

26969-432: The quality of the group in comparison to other groups the individual has the opportunity to join. Thiabaut and Kelley stated that the "comparison level for alternatives can be defined informally as the lowest level of outcomes a member will accept in the light of available alternative opportunities.” Joining and leaving groups is ultimately dependent on the comparison level for alternatives, whereas member satisfaction within

27150-441: The question for Freud of the first origin of moral prohibitions. A field of research that led him deep into the evolutionary and cultural (prä)history of mankind (see Darwin's primal horde; its abolition through patricide in Totem and Taboo ) and which, according to his own information, he had to leave unfinished as an untested hypothesis due to the lack of primate research . In 1899, Freud's work had progressed far enough that he

27331-534: The relative differences in status among group members. When a group is first formed the members may all be on an equal level, but over time certain members may acquire status and authority within the group; this can create what is known as a pecking order within a group. Status can be determined by a variety of factors and characteristics, including specific status characteristics (e.g. task-specific behavioural and personal characteristics, such as experience) or diffuse status characteristics (e.g. age, race, ethnicity). It

27512-582: The rest of the world, including countries such as Serbia, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and many others, as well as about six institutes directly in the United States. Freud founded the Psychological Wednesday Society in 1902, which Edward Shorter argues was the beginning of psychoanalysis as a movement. This society became the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1908 in the same year as

27693-444: The roots of this approach to social groups had its foundations in social identity theory, more concerted exploration of these ideas occurred later in the form of self-categorization theory . Whereas social identity theory was directed initially at the explanation of intergroup conflict in the absence of any conflict of interests, self-categorization theory was developed to explain how individuals come to perceive themselves as members of

27874-477: The same pairs or trios rather consistently and resist change. Particular twosomes and threesomes will stake out their special spots within the overall space. Again depending on the common goal, eventually twosomes and threesomes will integrate into larger sets of six or eight, with corresponding revisions of territory, dominance-ranking, and further differentiation of roles. All of this seldom takes place without some conflict or disagreement: for example, fighting over

28055-406: The self. In 1919, through "A Child is Being Beaten", he began to address the problems of self-destructive behavior and sexual masochism . Based on his experience with depressed and self-destructive patients, and pondering the carnage of World War I , Freud became dissatisfied with considering only oral and sexual motivations for behavior. By 1920, Freud addressed the power of identification (with

28236-407: The so called individual - and analytical psychology . Freud wrote some criticisms of them and emphatically denied that they were forms of psychoanalysis. Later Freudian thinkers like Erich Fromm , Karen Horney , and Harry Stack Sullivan branched Psychoanalysis in different directions. Jacques Lacan 's work essentially represents a return to Freud. He described Freudian metapsychology as

28417-629: The so-called neurotic symptoms, but detailed examinations didn't reveal any organic defects. In the monograph written on this subject, Freud documents his suspicion that neurotic symptoms could have psychological causes. In 1885, Freud was given the opportunity to study at the Salpêtrière in Paris under the famous neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot . Charcot had specialised in the field of hysterical paralysis and anaesthesia and established hypnosis as

28598-456: The stages of a community as: Communities may be distinguished from other types of groups, in Peck's view, by the need for members to eliminate barriers to communication in order to be able to form true community. Examples of common barriers are: expectations and preconceptions; prejudices ; ideology , counterproductive norms , theology and solutions; the need to heal, convert, fix or solve and

28779-554: The study of group dynamics. Throughout his career, Lewin was focused on how the study of group dynamics could be applied to real-world, social issues. Increasingly, research has applied evolutionary psychology principles to group dynamics. As human's social environments became more complex, they acquired adaptations by way of group dynamics that enhance survival. Examples include mechanisms for dealing with status, reciprocity, identifying cheaters, ostracism, altruism, group decision, leadership, and intergroup relations . Gustave Le Bon

28960-458: The subjekt that can'nt objectify itself. With regard to Freud's libido they call this dichotomy the "dual-aspect monism". It touches on the point of psychoanalysis that is most difficult to grasp with the means of empirically based sciences – in fact, only under Kant's assumption that living systems always make judgements about the phenomena they perceive with regard to the satisfaction of their immanent needs. Therefore, Freud conceptualised libido as

29141-428: The superego) and the ego performances its highest focus of conscious thinking in frontal lobe . In some respects Freud himself embodies the founder of this field of modern research. Parallel to the consolidation of psychoanalysis, however, he turned away from it with the argument that consciousness is directly given - not to be explained by insights into physiological details. Essentially, two things were known about

29322-444: The suspicion of conscious forgery. These are two different arguments. The latter questions whether Freud deliberately lied in order to make the allegedly unfounded psychoanalysis appear as a legitimate science; the former assumes an unknowingly committed act. Freud replied at various places in his work the same to both types of argument: That natural science is a process based on trial and error . A slow but sure becoming, in which it

29503-428: The unconscious as a result of traumatic experiences during childhood and that attempts to integrate them into the conscious perception of the ego triggers resistance . These and other defense mechanisms ‘want’ to maintain the repression – not least with the means of enigma, censorship, internalised fear of punishment or mother-love withdrawal – while the affected instincts resist. All in all, an inner war rages between

29684-553: The unconscious conscious in order to relieve the pressure and the apparently resulting symptoms. This method would later on be left aside by Freud, giving free association a bigger role. In On Narcissism (1914), Freud turned his attention to the titular subject of narcissism . Freud characterized the difference between energy directed at the self versus energy directed at others using a system known as cathexis . By 1917, in " Mourning and Melancholia ", he suggested that certain depressions were caused by turning guilt-ridden anger on

29865-440: The underlying pattern of roles, norms, and networks of relations among members that define and organize the group. Roles can be defined as a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way. Roles may be assigned formally, but more often are defined through the process of role differentiation. Role differentiation is the degree to which different group members have specialized functions. A group with

30046-420: The urging of the id and the realities of the external world; it thus operates on the 'reality principle'. The super-ego is held to be the part of the ego in which self-observation, self-criticism and other reflective and judgmental faculties develop. The ego and the super-ego are both partly conscious and partly unconscious. In the late 20th century, neuropsychoanalysis was introduced. The aim of this new field

30227-399: The way in which each generation educates the next to adopt the rules of coexistence known as morality. See also The Future of an Illusion .) In the mid-1890s, he was still upholding his hypothesis of sexual abuse. In this context, he reported on fantasies of several patients, which on the one hand would point to memories of scenes of infantile masturbation stored in the unconscious, while

30408-500: The way these elements fit together; rather the opposite is true: the properties of any of the parts are determined by the intrinsic structural laws of the whole". As a field of study, group dynamics has roots in both psychology and sociology. Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), credited as the founder of experimental psychology, had a particular interest in the psychology of communities, which he believed possessed phenomena (human language, customs, and religion) that could not be described through

30589-406: The women around, cause of the taboo of incest . This initiates - starting from the id - anger that can grow into a deadly urge for revenge against the father. Impulses that the little boy cannot act out (not least due to the child's deep dependence on his parents love) and therefore are repressed into unconscious. Symptomatically, this inner situation manifests itself as a feeling of inferiority, even

30770-554: The young women. She herself sometimes liked to jokingly rename her talking cure as chimney sweeping (an association about the fairy tale through which place the stork brings a baby into house) – or in Lacan's words: "The more Anna provided signifers , the more she chattered on, the better it went." Around the same time, Freud had started to develop a neurological hypothesis about mental phenomena such as memory, but soon abandoned this attempt and left it unpublished. Insights into

30951-488: The ‘id’); and the presumably by aducation initiated emergence of a psychopathological mechanism, whose ability consists in being able to hide impulses of this kind from one's own consciousness. Short after he assumed that the same findings would have some evidence for a kind of Oedipal desires. In the tragedy Oedipus , to which Freud refers, there occurs no sexual exploitation of a child by its parents or other adults. Sophocles' poetic treatment of this ancient Greek myth

31132-764: Was a French social psychologist whose seminal study, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1896) led to the development of group psychology . The British psychologist William McDougall in his work The Group Mind (1920) researched the dynamics of groups of various sizes and degrees of organization. In Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego , (1922), Sigmund Freud based his preliminary description of group psychology on Le Bon's work, but went on to develop his own, original theory, related to what he had begun to elaborate in Totem and Taboo . Theodor Adorno reprised Freud's essay in 1951 with his Freudian Theory and

31313-403: Was able to publish The Interpretation of Dreams . This, for him, was the most important of his writings, as it formulated the realisation that every dream contains a symbolically disguised message that can be decoded with help of the dreamer's free associations . The purpose of every dream is therefore to inform the dreamer about his complex inner situation: in essence, a conflict arising from

31494-404: Was developed in order to clarify the causes of disorders and to restore mental health by enabling the ego to become aware of the id's needs that have been repressed into the unconscious and to find realistic ways of satisfying and/or controlling them. Freud summarised this goal of his therapy in the demand "Where id was, ego shall became", equating the libido as driving energy of innate needs with

31675-628: Was held in Weimar in 1911. The London Psychoanalytical Society was founded in 1913 by Ernest Jones . In the 1950s, psychoanalysis was the main modality of psychotherapy . Behavioural models of psychotherapy started to assume a more central role in psychotherapy in the 1960s. Aaron T. Beck , a psychiatrist trained in a psychoanalytic tradition, set out to test the psychoanalytic models of depression empirically and found that conscious ruminations of loss and personal failing were correlated with depression. He suggested that distorted and biased beliefs were

31856-406: Was highly influential at the time. Kurt Lewin (1943, 1948, 1951) is commonly identified as the founder of the movement to study groups scientifically. He coined the term group dynamics to describe the way groups and individuals act and react to changing circumstances. William Schutz (1958, 1966) looked at interpersonal relations as stage-developmental, inclusion (am I included?), control (who

32037-479: Was no less well acquainted with the energetic- economic aspect of evolution and psychic processes (s. def. of the three metapsychological vectors ) than with the trinity of Greek philosophy, especially Plato's transcendent unity of truth : that it expresses the good and the beauty in equal measure, anchored in the proportions of golden ratio. Freud's worldview, with dream interpretation as the royal way into unconscious , wasn't conceived as an source of income ( money

32218-684: Was presented in Studies on Hysteria (1895). Co-authored with his mentor Josef Breuer , this is generally seen as the birth of psychoanalysis. The work based on Freud's and Breuer's partly joint treatment of Bertha Pappenheim , referred to in the case studies by the pseudonym Anna O . . Berta herself had dubbed the treatment talking cure . Breuer, a distinguished physician, was astonished but remained unspecific; while Freud formulated his hypothesis that Anna's hystera seemed to be caused by distressing but unconscious experiences related to sexuality, basing his assumption on corresponding associations made by

32399-430: Was to bridge the gap between psychoanalytic concepts and neuroscientific findings. Solms theorizes that for every cognition based action, there is a neurological reason behind it. According to Daniela Mosri, nueropsychoanalysis was coined by Solms and is a continuation of the original model proposed by Freud in 1895. Neuropsychoanalysis is an interdisciplinary approach that focuses on how neurobiological mechanisms imfluence

32580-544: Was to defend gang territory, and to define and maintain the dominance structure within the gang. There remains in the popular media and urban law enforcement agencies an avid interest in gangs, reflected in daily headlines which emphasize the criminal aspects of gang behavior. However, these studies and the continued interest have not improved the capacity to influence gang behavior or to reduce gang related violence. The relevant literature on animal social behaviors , such as work on territory and dominance, has been available since

32761-510: Was trained psychoanalytically but was concerned about some properties of psychoanalysis; he was troubled by the dogmatism of psychoanalysis at the time, its arcane terminology, the lack of attention to environment in child behaviour, and the concepts derived from talking therapy to child behaviour. In response, he developed an alternative conceptualization of child behaviour based on principles on ethology . Bowlby's theory of attachment rejects Freud's model of psychosexual development based on

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