question #3: Nonverbal communication

One of the more interesting topics in this chapter was the one discussing nonverbal communication. I think that nonverbal communication is a key component in groups, because it is often subtle and each group has its own set of patterns. These patterns vary from group to group, which is interesting because what may seen as a good or positive gesture in one group, may seem tacky or even offensive in another group. I think the US is especially sensitive to nonverbal communication because there are so many subcultures that exist here. Facial expressions are nonverbal gestures that used to always throw me off when dealing with people. When someone would use a facial expression that seemed offensive to me, it would cause me to view their remarks in an offensive way. Even if they did not intend to insult me, I was forcing myself to view their communication in a negative context in order to place a correlation to their words and my interpretation of their facial expression. I learned that my interpretation of a facial expression is not universal, and that allowed me to view communication in a much different way.

Question #2: White men of privilege

Our text describes hierarchies of power in relation to specific groups of people, and how those groups situate themselves along a certain continuum. Because of this, specific groups within our society have become known for having less power (economic, political, social, etc), and certain groups have become viewed as having more power. The concept of “white men of privilege” Is referring to white males being placed at the top of the social pyramid if you will. This means that certain privileges available to your typical white male aren’t very accessible, if not accessible at all to other groups of people. I do have to agree with this concept when it comes to our society, because the facts are there to support it. If you look at the most powerful people in high end jobs, they are white males. Furthermore, it took us 220 years to see our first non-white president. On that same note, I do feel that there is a conscious change being made by society to confront the issue.

Question #1 Stereotypes

Being part of a group in some form or another will lead to stereotypes. For me, i used to encounter stereotypes and still do when playing basketball. I am white, and there are several stereotypes that go along with being white and being an athlete. One that i encounter quite often is that people expect me to be a good shooter. This happens because basketball in general (especially at the professional level) sees less and less white athletes as the years go by. Because of this, I think people had to glorify white people at some point to make them feel worthy of being in their position as a professional athlete. The one attribute that tended to be associated with this glorification was shooting, and that white people were good at it. This specific example does identify with the concepts in this chapter, because it shows how stereotypes perpetuate myths by representing each individual of a specific group as a token. People see me as a white basketball player and associate me with "their understanding" of a white basketball player. This leads to people not being able to see a valuable difference between me and the stereotype, thus further perpetuating the myth.

Question #3: Roles in groups

I found the topic that discussed roles and how they are split into two different general categories to be very interesting. The text stated that roles can be used to improve the overall task or functionality of the group to get the task done, or that roles can be used to improve the social and emotional needs of the group. Roles such as this are very present in sports. Certain athletes have the role of being a scorer or a defender. These are roles that help get the overall task done, which is to win. Then there are those who play the role of affecting the group’s overall emotional or social state. Coaches are a great example because they are not on the playing field physically affecting the game, but they make decisions that govern the social state of the team. If they yell at a particular player, it can affect his or her morale which will affect the team’s emotional state as a whole. Even particular players that do not play very much can have a great attitude or be full of enthusiasm which allows players in the game to feed off of them. Roles give us all personal identity within our groups which makes each person unique to the group.

Norms, Question #2

The text describes dealing with norms within groups as having a road map or travelers guide for navigating the territory of group behavior and process. That means that norms dictate how a group approaches one another, and having a map for that allows you to understand how a group functions. Norms tend to establish roles most of the time. Specific individuals tend to fall into a certain role when they feel that a group depends on them for something. If I bring coffee to work every morning, people would start to feel that it is the norm for me to fulfill that role. If I were to stop bringing coffee to work, people would feel as if I violated the group’s norm, and it would disrupt the overall function of the group. Violating that norm tends to make you feel like you have let the group down, and the group is normally affected as a whole because of it.

Norms, Question #1

San Jose State definitely has group norms. For instance, classroom norms are very evident. There are rules in which we must follow in order to maintain classroom etiquette and structure. The first day of class is a great example of a group norm. We all pretty much know that the professor will be giving us a greensheet so that the group will know that to expect for the rest of the semester. Another well known norm is that the professor will be doing the majority of the speaking the first day of class. I guess this can be viewed as the newcomer and leader roles that the book discussed. Generally newcomers to a group tend to sit back and observe the first couple of times, while leaders tend to do a majority of the decision making within groups. For me, sports have a lot of norms as well. If it is a close game and it comes down to a final play, it is the norm to have your best player be the one to make a play. Teams rarely ever rely on a rookie to take on that responsibility, and it is often questioned when they do. I think adapting to norms comes down to trust. Trust allows group members to rely on you to make decisions that they support. What is just as important is knowing who you cannot trust to do specific tasks within a group. Adapting to the members within a group should allow you to gauge the amount of trust you have with each individual, and adapt to the norms that are in place.

#3 Understanding small group success

My favorite part of the chapter was the concept of “understanding small group success.” It outlined the idea of small groups being able to problem solve by putting them into four different groups that compare success and understanding. Certain groups continue to fail because they do not understand why they are failing. They lack the direction to know how to succeed. On the other hand, specific groups will constantly succeed because they understand what it is that makes their group successful. It is no coincidence that certain sports teams win more often than others, and there is a reason why other teams fail more often than others. You could make the argument that the best teams just pay the most money to get the best players. This does help but doesn’t guarantee great group success. The teams that win understand the concept that every piece is important to the overall success of the team. I liked this part of the chapter because it shows that groups don’t only need to know that success is important, they need to understand how to achieve success on a consistent basis in order to survive.