Groups - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly...

What is a group? Dictionary.com gives this definition: 'any collection or assemblage of persons or things'


All person belongs to some sort of group, be it a social group to a charity organisation. This topic is also closely related with values and self esteem. 


A 'group' can only be created with two or more individuals who; share a set of norms, have role relationships and/or experience interdependent behaviors, for example people who go to the pub with the same group of people at a set time on a regular basis. This is also an information group to belong, being in a social group like this can boost ones self esteem, as Solomon explains humans need to be respected by others in order to respect themselves, this is outline in 'Maslow's Hierarchy of needs' Every person fits into this hierarchy it starts off with the lower levels of needs such as water and sleep and goes up to the self fulfillment stage where doing something for others or for your self can lead to self fulfillment. 


This interdependent behavior is very common in schools, as children settle into their own groups of friends and mix outside of school as-well. However, this can cause gang behavior outside of school hours, which can cause anti social behavior issues. Even though anti social behavior can be caused by people of all ages, elder people have a negative perception of gangs of youths and so called 'hoodies'. Although there are no official statistics to prove this, many people are petrified of the 'yob culture.'


Today in the UK there are many different types of dissociative groups that many people would stay away from, yet people are pulled into these groups through peer pressure. These sets of people cause problems through binge drinking, drugs, violence and other criminal activities. In the High Wycombe area the highest crime from the list above is anti social behavior, followed closely by 'other crimes', which include shop lifting, drugs offenses and criminal damage. (Police.com, 2010)


There are many different reasons that people join groups, for example an aspirational group is one that people want to join as the group does good within the community or has a high status in different areas, for example in business or in a social aspect.  Above, I have covered the negative aspects of group and gang culture. Below, I will look at the positive side of groups and motivation groups from weight loss groups such as weight watchers to charity groups who work to help other people less fortunate. 


There are many charity organizations large and small in the country who do good things. From the focus groups which we carried out last month for another piece of coursework, it was found that people preferred to give to charity organizations which affected them personally, rather than being persuaded by a TV advert. This was a group of people who wanted to help others, but at the same time wanted to know what their money was going towards, prior to donating. 


People can communication to groups in many ways, from fact to face, to over the internet. This is something which many companies are using to communicate with their publics. When joining a commerce website the customer is asked a series of questions such as, age, gender, area of residence etc... this is then used by the company to group their customers and can then group them further by the previous purchases. For example a DVD rental company can email a group of people who often rent comedies or horror films when a new release is available. This is direct mail where it can be sent to only the people they know are interested in the products. This can be done on a personal level to engage the consumer at a deeper level. 


To round this posting off, it is noticeable a person may copy a group of others if in an enclosed space such as a lift or car after a few minutes in order not to stand out. This is simply to fit in and not to look different from the others in the vicinity. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge6wmDfsHXA


The video above explains the video perfectly as people join in just to fit in. This is what groups are about. People fitting in...


Reference List:
Police, 2010, 'crime rates in High Wycombe', [Online] Available at www.police.uk,  [Accessed 22nd Feb 2011]
Solomon M R, Bamossy G, Askgaard S, Hogg M, 2010, Consumer behavior a european perspective, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson's Education LTD