Groups, Culture, Communication

1. 2014 - 2015
AS COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

2. GROUPS AND IDENTITY

3. GROUPS
We all belong to groups – some we are born into -
social identity - and some we choose to belong to
- collective identity.
Group membership is an important part of forming
our identity. Often how we pattern ourself springs
from which groups we belong to – I’m a girl, I’m a
boy scout, I’m a Doctor Who fan….
Why do you think it is almost universal to belong to groups –
what drives it?

4. Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner) states that
an individual’s self-concept is formed from their
membership of different groups.
People are motivated to achieve positive
distinctiveness – they join groups they feel will help
them achieve greater status and self-esteem and
allow upward mobility.
Is this true of both social and collective identities to
the same degree?

5. Make a list of the different groups that you belong to
– can you think of ten groups to which you have
some affiliation…
Try and work out why you
belong to each – because
you have to? Because it
offers you something you like
or aspire to? What does
group membership bring
you?
Can you opt out of any of these groups? If so, which ones and why?
Have you any lapsed group memberships?

6. How do you show that you belong to these groups?
Take one of these groups, perhaps the one you feel most
committed to, and identify how it might affect:
• Your appearance
• Your language
• Your behaviour – what you do
• Your values
• Where you hang out
How far does belonging to one of these groups mould your
identity?

7. Each group has NORMS that it expects members to conform
to.
Select a group from the list below and identify the
expectations or norms the group would expect new
members to adopt to show tribal membership:
• Chav
• Lawyer
• Ballroom dancer
• Harry Potter fan
• Rugby player
• Scot

8. In one sense, belonging to a group offers us a
pre-made set of identity markers . The group
tells us what to wear, how to speak, how to
view life…. Some would even go as far as
saying that it tells us how to think….
Irving Janis used the term groupthink in his
1972 work and explained it as :
a quick and easy way to refer to the mode of
thinking that persons engage in
when concurrence-seeking becomes so
dominant in a cohesive ingroup that it tends
to override realistic appraisal of alternative
courses of action.

9. It describes how, in a group, we often are so keen to
agree with other group members without arguments or
conflict (which could lead to a group splitting), that
people may rush to adopt a view without thinking it
through, possibly leading to bad decisions or bad
choices about how to behave.
One of the key features is that groupthink tends to
eliminate the individual’s point of view and independent
thinking. We adopt the group’s thoughts.
Could this explain Nazi Germany? The way a ‘hive’ mind
predominates on Twitter and other social media? Mob
mentality – Black Friday and the London Riots?

10. Can you think of any occasions where groupthink has led
to you or others you know acting or thinking a certain way,
even when it’s not what you would normally do or think?
Can you think of an occasion where you have felt the need
to suppress a view or comment, because you knew it would
not go down well with the group you were with?
What self-maintenance strategies are we using here
to negotiate our membership of a certain group?

11. The Wave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=N9vdfb2f-B0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Th
ird_Wave
This is an example of groupthink
and where it can lead to.

12. The Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo; 1971)
The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was a study of the psychological effects
of becoming a prisoner or prison guard.
Twenty-four male students out of seventy-five were selected to take on randomly
assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated in the
basement of the Stanford psychology building.
The participants adapted to their roles well beyond Zimbardo's expectations, as
the guards enforced authoritarian measures and ultimately subjected some of
the prisoners to psychological torture. Many of the prisoners passively accepted
psychological abuse, and, at the request of the guards, readily harassed other
prisoners who attempted to prevent it. The experiment even affected Zimbardo
himself, who, in his role as the superintendent, permitted the abuse to continue.
Two of the prisoners quit the experiment early, and the entire experiment was
abruptly stopped after only six days.
Another example of how groupthink may be seen.

13. We’re not usually forced to
adopt the norms – although
maybe in some groups, like
Scouts or business groups,
there are ceremonies and
working standards that are
explicit and have to be
adhered to in order to stay a
member of the group.
So, how is conformity
achieved?

14. Through socialisation!
• We are motivated by a positive desire to be accepted by
the group or to avoid its enmity
• Gaining acceptance is achieved by adopting the group
norms
• Positive feedback and acceptance boost our self-esteem
and self-concept
• Negative feedback and avoidance of low esteem make us
steer away from standing out by not adopting the norms
• Often high status members in a group become role models
for newer members and offer an ideal self on which to
pattern themselves

15. Role Models
The term "role model" is credited to sociologist Robert K.
Merton, who coined the phrase during his career. Merton
hypothesized that individuals compare themselves
with reference groups of people who occupy the social
role to which the individual aspires.
How does the idea of role models,
celebrity or otherwise, link to the
self-concept, the ideal self and self-
esteem? Can this also help explain
the pressure to conform to the
group?

16. The Black Sheep Effect
In English the black sheep of the family is
a term often used to describe the less
reputable members of a family.
In psychology terms, it is used to
describe the phenomenon where group
members judge likeable, high status
group members more positively and
deviant group member more
negatively.
This can act as a strong motivator for conformity –
we don’t want to be black sheep!

17. Labelling Theory
What is labelling
theory?
How might this also
help explain why
conform and adopt
the group identity so
easily? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKY4GpVoTqQ

18. Social Identity Theory:
Tajfel (1979) proposed that the groups (e.g. social class, family,
football team etc.) which people belonged to were an
important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups give us a
sense of social identity: a sense of belonging to the social world.
We know where we fit in!
In order to increase our self-image we enhance the status of
the group to which we belong. For example, England is the best
country in the world!
We can also increase our self-image by discriminating and
holding prejudiced views against the out group (the group we
don’t belong to). For example, the Americans, French etc. are
a bunch of losers!

19. Therefore we divided the world into “them” and “us” based
through a process of social categorization (i.e. we put people into
social groups).
This is known as in-group (us) and out-group (them). Social
identity theory states that the in-group will discriminate against
the out-group to enhance their self-image.
Belonging to a group is important to our self-esteem and
motivates us to adopt the group identity, especially if the process
of belonging makes us feel good and also makes belonging to all
other groups undesirable!

20. This is England
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=lw4bU1QUK-Y
Watch this trailer and
analyse what it can tell us
about belonging to a group.

21. Degrees of Belonging
We belong to a number of different groups but do we belong to
each degree with the same level of wholehearted
commitment?
Think of the groups you
belong to and rank them in
order of commitment –
high- medium – low.

22. Different Types of Group Memberships
New members – need to prove themselves to older members
Full members – these have undergone socialisation into the
group and are fully accepted
Marginalised members – once full members but have lost
membership because they failed to live up to expectations
HOW ARE THESE TYPES OF MEMBER LIKELY TO AFFECT ADOPTION
OF THE NORMS?

23. William Labov: Harlem Study
Labov was a linguist who investigated the
language used by members of two New
York gangs – the Thunderbirds and The Jets
in 1966.
He discovered that gang members who
were less central to the group and held in
less regard (a group he referred to as lames)
tended to conform less to the group norms
of language. They still used some of the
distinctive features of the gang language
but less than the core or high status
members.

24. Jenny Cheshire: Reading Study (1978)
Cheshire conducted similar research to
Labov but did so by studying teenage gangs
in Reading.
She found that they tended to a high level of
non-standard forms in their speech (I knows
how to do that/ they calls me all the names
under the sun). This expressed their rejection
of the standard English linked to the
education system and adult society that
labelled them as failing.
What Cheshire also found was that the more
the individual conformed to the gang sub-
culture, the more non-standard varieties they
used in their speech.

25. Noddy, one of the core members, had a
very high incidence of non-standard forms
and he connoted their use with
‘toughness’, something he cultivated
through involvement in fights and petty
crime
Kevin, on the other hand, had a relatively
low incidence of non-standard forms. He
was often jeered at by the others and only
really hung around with them because he
lived in the pub next to the playground
where they met.

26. What do these two studies tell us about how
much being part of a group can influence us?
Can you think of any examples of where your
membership of a group has been reflected through a
partial or intermittent use of group norms to show your
status as a less central member of the group? Or where
you have embraced the group norms to show your
complete identification with the group and to achieve
status and acceptance?

27. Is there any scope at all for
individuality in a group?
If we adopt a group identity that
is more-or-less defined for us, are
we all simply clones or can we
mark our individuality within the
tribe?
Think about school uniforms - we
all need to wear the same, the
outfit is prescribed for us BUT can
it be customised or resisted in any
way

28. Customising the Standard Issue
Most people belong to the group of
mobile phone users.
We may choose one brand out of many
but sometimes, even that brand allows
us an element of personalisation – how?
Why do you think it is important to
preserve s sense of individual identity
amidst the reality of an imposed
corporate identity?
Can you think of any other products
where this personalisation is on offer?

29. EXTRA INFORMATION – USEFUL BUT
NOT ESSENTIAL

30. Janis has documented eight symptoms of groupthink:
1.Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme
risks.
2.Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their
assumptions.
3.Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and therefore
ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.
4.Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make effective responses to
conflict seem unnecessary.
5.Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments
against any of the group’s views.
6.Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not
expressed.
7.Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous.
8.Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from information
that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions.

31. Youth Tribes
Have a look at the Channel 4 UK Tribes website:
http://www.uktribes.com/
Explore the different types of youth tribe it identifies – which one do you think is most liekly to
be you?
Take the test – what are you? Are you definitely one tribe or a mixture of many? Where the
results as expected or quite different?
Choose one of the tribes (not necessarily your own) and see how much of the norms,
expectations and cultural practises you can identify from the site:
• Clothes
• Important items/ accessories
• Attitudes
• Likes
• Dislikes
• Group activities
• Anything else!
• Create a report to feedback to the rest of the class.