Individuals are always in interaction with other individuals outside, as well as in the group and with the group itself. This is why the social sciences emphasize the importance of group dynamics. After the 1990's, with the globalization, digitalization, changing political systems, goal or result-oriented approaches in many western countries, new…

Research has shown that educators may be reluctant to implement group work in their teaching due to concerns about students partaking in off-task behaviours. However, such off-task interactions have been shown to promote motivation, trust, and rapport-building. This paper details a study in which student groups were video recorded as they engaged…

We illustrate the idiographic/nomothetic debate by comparing 3 approaches to using daily self-report data on affect for predicting relationship quality and breakup. The 3 approaches included (a) the first day in the series of daily data; (b) the mean and variability of the daily series; and (c) parameters from dynamic factor analysis, a…

We develop a Roy model of social interactions in which individuals sort into peer groups based on comparative advantage. Two key results emerge: First, when comparative advantage is the guiding principle of peer group organization, the effect of moving a student into an environment with higher-achieving peers depends on where in the ability…

This article reviews how current social network analysis might be used to investigate individual and group behavior in sporting teams. Social network analysis methods permit researchers to explore social relations between team members and their individual-level qualities simultaneously. As such, social network analysis can be seen as augmenting…

Understanding allyhood as a developmental process will allow educators and program directors to reach a broader number of students with more powerful outcomes in line with student learning and development goals. Designing programs that promote ally development as a component of social justice education will allow programs to tailor ally…

Thousands of schools have tried the Mix It Up at Lunch Day program since it started 10 years ago in 2001. Teaching Tolerance continues to get glowing reviews from around the country. Teachers and administrators are understandably eager to make their Mix Day better--to reach more students. Here are 10 proven ways to give Mix an extra stir.

Reviews group behavioral issues from past space missions and simulations such as the Skylab Medical Experiments Altitude Test, Skylab missions, and Shuttle Spacelab I mission. Makes recommendations for future flights concerning commandership, crew selection, and ground-crew communications. Pre- and in-flight behavioral countermeasures are…

This paper describes two experiments involving a game in which the effects of a strategy upon attraction are investigated. The first experiment investigated the role of one's partner's strategy and the subject's own strategy upon attraction among the players of a mixed-motive game; the second experiment was carried out as an extension and…

Findings indicate that interpersonal compatibility in work groups and its relationship to goal achievement is not a unidimensional or unidirectional phenomenon. Rather, compatibility appears inextricably related to other aspects of group problem solving, including the methodology of decision making. (Author/IRT)

Considering recent claims that groups are important to teaching and learning, the authors examine the differences between groups and collections of people to see how one might create learning groups when designing learning and instruction. Based on literature in the fields of group dynamics and education, characteristics of groups are listed and…

Describes how teachers can help children feel included, connected, and valued, explaining that the family is the child's first and most important group, and children learn the rules of social interaction from primary relationships with adults. As children play, they learn and formulate their own social rules. Teachers can provide structured,…

Based on an address at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (75th, Washington, D.C., September 1967). Research supported by U.S. Public Health Service Contract MH-08563-03.

In this study the researchers attempted to analyze the factors of age, sex, racial-ethnic background, operational life of the team, educational status, leader status, team size, caseload size, and the location of program site in terms of their potential effects upon team cohesion. (Author)

The verbal behavior of two groups of nine tenth-grade boys who met for eight sessions in an unstructured group discussion was studied. Verbal behavior was encoded using a modified version of Bales' interaction process analysis. (Author/BJG)