Study Of Group Behavior Research Articles

Reducing Societal Obesity: Establishing a Separate Exercise Model through Studies of Group Behavior

The past 50 years has brought attention to high and increasing levels of human obesity in most of the industrialized world. The medical profession has noticed, has evaluated, and has developed models for studying, preventing, and reversing obesity. The current model prescribes activity in specific quantities such as days, minutes, heart rates, and footfalls. Although decreased levels of activity have come from changes revolving around built environments and social networks, the existing medical model to lower body weights by increasing activity remains individually prescriptive. It is not working. The study of societal obesity precludes the individual and must involve group behavioral studies. Such studies necessitate acquiring separate tools and, therefore, require a significant change in the evaluation and treatment of obesity. Finding groups with common activities and lower levels of obesity would allow the development of new models of land use and encourage active lifestyles through shared interests.

Genetic composition of social groups influences male aggressive behaviour and fitness in natural genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster.

Indirect genetic effects (IGEs) describe how an individual's behaviour-which is influenced by his or her genotype-can affect the behaviours of interacting individuals. IGE research has focused on dyads. However, insights from social networks research, and other studies of group behaviour, suggest that dyadic interactions are affected by the behaviour of other individuals in the group. To extend IGE inferences to groups of three or more, IGEs must be considered from a group perspective. Here, I introduce the 'focal interaction' approach to study IGEs in groups. I illustrate the utility of this approach by studying aggression among natural genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster. I chose two natural genotypes as 'focal interactants': the behavioural interaction between them was the 'focal interaction'. One male from each focal interactant genotype was present in every group, and I varied the genotype of the third male-the 'treatment male'. Genetic variation in the treatment male's aggressive behaviour influenced the focal interaction, demonstrating that IGEs in groups are not a straightforward extension of IGEs measured in dyads. Further, the focal interaction influenced male mating success, illustrating the role of IGEs in behavioural evolution. These results represent the first manipulative evidence for IGEs at the group level.

Genre and CSCL: The form and rhetoric of the online posting

Genre analysis, the investigation of typified communicative actions arising in recurrent situations, has been developed to study information use and interchange online, in businesses and in other organizations. As such, it holds out promise for the investigation of similarly typified communicative actions and situations in CSCL contexts. This study explores this promise, beginning with an overview of ways that genre analysis has been adapted and applied in related areas: in the study of group behavior in organizations, and of evolving and proliferating communicative forms, actions, and situations on the Internet (e-mails, blogs, FAQs, etc.). Focusing on the particular genre of the Internet “posting” in CSCL contexts, the paper hypothesizes that the educational use of this genre bears recognizable similarities with its generic antecedent, the letter. In testing this hypothesis, the paper describes a pilot case study of a set of CSCL postings (n = 136), which attempts to quantify the occurrence of rhetorical characteristics common to both the epistolary and CSCL “genres.” This content analysis shows the recurrence in this sample of a range of rhetorical markers (240 in total) that are characteristic of epistolary dynamics. It concludes by considering the implications of these findings and of a “genre approach” for CSCL research generally, and for community of inquiry models in particular.

Group Decision Making in the Negative Domain

During the past 10 years, there has been continuing discussion of a central idea of prospect theory: individuals' risk-taking behavior will differ depending on whether they perceive themselves to be in the negative domain (the donmin of losses) or the positive domain (the domain of gains). Specifically, prospect theory proposes that individuals will be risk seeking in the negative and risk averse in the positive domain. During this same period, the study of group behavior has continued, and there has been consideration of group factors that may affectrisktaking. However, there has been no systematic effort to establish direct linkages between the group behavior and the prospect theory literature. In this article, we begin by reviewing the two literature streams and suggesting linkages. Based on the linkages we see, we propose a series of testable hypotheses that we believe can establish a research agenda for those working in this area. Finally, we propose implications for managers and practitioners.

The Study of Group Behavior During Four Decades

The Study of Group Behavior During Four Decades

An attempt to integrate the classical studies of group behavior and the risk shift phenomenon

An attempt to integrate the classical studies of group behavior and the risk shift phenomenon

Social patterns and diabetic glucosuria. A study of group behavior and diabetic management in summer camp.

THIS REPORT examines the relationship between changes in group behavior and diabetic control in a group of 6- to 12-year-old diabetic boys and girls at a summer camp during the 1960 and 1961 seasons. Previous study at this camp suggested that group structures and intragroup and intergroup relationships of diabetic children are similar to those of nondiabetic children.¹In a later study, a more detailed investigation of the interrelationship of individual personality adjustment, response to dietary change, and diabetic control was reported.²An explanation of the theoretical framework of these studies is found in an article by Sussman and Weil.¹ <h3>Methods</h3> A two-week period of structured activity was established at the beginning of the new camp season. This control of program activity served as the experimental or introduced stimulus for study of behavior and group relations as they relate to diabetic control. The children were separated by

MODIFICATION OF VERBAL INTERACTIONS IN TRIAD GROUPS: PRELIMINARY REPORT.

Studies of group behavior within an operant conditioning fmmework have been relstively sparse. The studies that have been performed (e.g., Cieutat, 1959; Oakes, Drogc, & August, 1960) have demonstrated that verbal conditioning principles can be employed ro manipulate simultaneously the duration of talking by several Ss. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the conditions under which the verbal interactions in triads of Ss could be modified. The assumption was made that the verbal behavior of a given S is regulated at least to some extent by the verbal behavior of other Ss in the group. A series of 5 reinforcement programs was investigated to determine to what extent manipulation of the verbal behavior of 2 Ss in a triad group (Non-critical Ss or NCSs) would have on the third S (Critical S or CS). 90 Ss (in 30 triads) were placed in individual isolation booths and given psychiatric case histories to discuss. The reinforcement was points which registered on their counters contingent upon duration of talking and the person to whom they talked. The points were exchangeable for gifts at [he end of the experimental session. The best reinforcement procedure involved direct manipulation of CS's behavior. Reinforcement programs involving simultaneous manipulation of the NCSs in addition to the CS failed to produce changes in the CS's duration of talking. The reinforcement programs were also unsuccessful in producing increases in the amount of talking by the NCSs to the CS although there were substantial decrements in the interactions between NCSs. Because of the large variabiliry among triads of Ss, results are tentative. The study susgesred that the effectiveness of any reinforcement program may be dependent upon a number of variables, such as the operant level of talking by CS, the operant duration of talking directed by the NCSs to CS, the sex of the members composing the triads, and possibly the length and/or number of conditioning sessions. These are variables which have to be taken into account in subsequent research.

Two Theorems on Ceteris Paribus in the Analysis of Dynamic Systems

Analysis of the dynamic properties of two or more interrelated systems is a recurrent problem in social science theory. A particular problem frequently arises (although it often goes unrecognized) in assessing the validity of an analysis of a system, some variables of which are causally related to other variables, which latter, in turn, are either not explicitly taken into account or are assumed constant. Examples are easy to find: economists may study the behavior of a single country's economy with only secondary regard for the rest of the world; studies of group behavior may pay only secondary attention to the other roles played by the group members in other contexts; two more examples are worked out below and others may be found in the works about to be cited. Indeed, in a larger sense, the division of social science itself (or of natural science, for that matter) into separate disciplines is an example, for the variables taken as given by one discipline are the very subject matter of another and vice versa. In all these examples, the very real problem is present that if variables taken as given are causally affected by the variables of the system being analyzed, or if variables assumed not to affect that system actually do affect it, the results of the analysis may have little relevance for the study of real problems.

Directions for Research in Group Behavior

Recent studies of group behavior have pointed to a pressing need for systematic empirical research on which to basen theoretica formulations. Among directions for future research discussed are: the identification of general dimensions in terms of which any interaction field may be described and the determination of the syntality and personality components of these dimensions; the systematic study of theoretically important variables; a more sophisticated exploration of the phenomena of social perception; and the induction of changes in manifest social behavior patterns.

Studies of group behavior: leadership structures in small organized groups.

Studies of group behavior: leadership structures in small organized groups.

Studies of Group Behavior: II. Methodological Problems in the Study of Interrelationships of Group Members

Studies of Group Behavior: II. Methodological Problems in the Study of Interrelationships of Group Members

Studies of group behavior; leaders, followers, and isolates in small organized groups.

Studies of group behavior; leaders, followers, and isolates in small organized groups.

Studies of group behavior: Factors associated with the productivity of groups.

Studies of group behavior: Factors associated with the productivity of groups.

Studies of group behavior: stability, change, and interrelations of psychometric and sociometric variables.

The first in a series of papers, the present report describes the groups and methods used in the research; it also analyzes the stability of the 13 small groups studied, and their similarity and disparity on selected sociological and psychological characteristics. Two-retest performances on personality and sociometric measures are analyzed, and selected variables are related to measures of satisfaction with experiences in the group residence units. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

The Number of Members as Determining the Sociological Form of the Group. I

The Number of Members as Determining the Sociological Form of the Group. I