group process
Definition
Group process refers to the collective dynamics through which individual behavior changes as a function of social influence among members of a social group. The behavior changes among individuals due to social influence produce outcomes such as the emergence of roles, group structures, and group norms. A Boolean network method applied to longitudinal self-disclosure data from multi-week therapy groups demonstrates that these dynamics can include both assimilative and repulsive social influence operating simultaneously within the same group. Representing each member's behavior as a temporal function of prior behaviors across the group allows group-level influence patterns to be inferred and, where necessary, managed through targeted network control strategies.
Sources: Yang et al. (2024)
Related Terms
- social influence (1 shared article)
- Boolean network (1 shared article)
- network control (1 shared article)
- dynamical system method (1 shared article)
Applications
Group Process and Social Influence
Social influence is the mechanism through which group process operates, with individual behavior at each time point shaped by the prior behaviors of other group members. Both assimilative influence, in which a member's behavior moves toward a peer's, and repulsive influence, in which it moves away, have been identified within the same therapy groups, with 16 of 18 Boolean network models containing evidence of both types.
Sources: Yang et al. (2024)
Group Process and Behavior Change
Behavior change in group settings is conceptualized as the observable outcome of group process, produced when social influence causes members to modify their actions over time. In therapy groups studied with the Boolean network method, the target behavior was self-disclosure, and control strategies were identified that could direct six groups toward a state in which the majority of members self-disclosed.
Sources: Yang et al. (2024)
Group Process and Network-based Intervention
Managing group process requires strategies that can steer the group toward a desired behavioral state without necessarily altering the social ties themselves. The Boolean network method provides a structural control framework for identifying which members, if targeted, would move the group toward that state, an approach validated on empirical data from 18 therapy groups.
Sources: Yang et al. (2024)
