The benefits and costs of joining PDF

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Mind maps of some course work for Organizational Communication. It is mostly on unit 3, detailing and pointing out the things students should focus on....

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The benefits of joining: what groups do for us

The benefits and costs of joining

People sometimes go through a lot of difficulty to join a specific group: membership in many groups is by “invitation only,” and winning that invitation can be difficult. Surprisingly many people will stick with the group even when they are experiencing hard times in the group

What accounts for this strong desire to join and remain part of social groups? first, we often gain self-knowledge from belonging to various groups.

steep initiation fees, substantial effort to prove one's credentials as suitable, and long trial probationary periods are common methods of restricting group memberships.

Our membership can tell us what kind of person we are- or perhaps would like to be- so group membership becomes central to our self-concept. once we belong, we can find it hard to imagine not belonging because it makes our life meaningful by defining to some extent who we are. Being part of a group cannot increase our perceived ability to cope with stress, in part by making us feel a greater sense of control.

The cost of getting accepted into a group

To increase our commitment to a group because we have paid a heavy material or psychological price to join it might at first appear to be a rather strange idea.

Perhaps because of the importance of groups and the benefits derived by those who are part of them, many groups erect barriers to entry: they want only some people to join, and they insist that those who do be highly motivated to enter.

In a classic experiment Aronson & Mills (1959) illustrated why this sometimes happens in order to imitate a mild initiation- students in this study either were always to read very embarrassing material in front of a group or mildly embarrassing material or did not read any material As a result, of going through an initiation in order to be admitted into a group and then learning that the groups unattractive after all, our commitment towards that group should actually increase.

While some people belong to more groups than others most of us put forth effort to gain admittance and maintain membership in at least some groups.

Withdrawing from a group, which we have belonged to for months, years or even decades can be a stressful experience.

the costs of membership

While groups can help us to reach our goals, how to boost our status along the way, & form important part of who we are, they also impose certain costs.

Group membership often restricts freedom. Members of various groups are expected to behave in certain ways and if they don't the group may impose sanctions or even expel search violators from group membership.

Groups can adopt positions or policies of which some members disapprove.

Withdrawing from groups can be a major step with lost in repercussions. Groups often make demands on members time, ENERGY & resources and members must meet these demands or surrender their membership.

Many people decide to leave groups when there are differences in ideology.

Greenaway et al (2015) (pp.385) As these researchers predicted, like in the group was greater as the severity of the initiation increased; the more embarrassing the material their students had to read the more attractive they subsequently found this boring group. As you can probably guess the more an individual is seeking self enhancementboosting one's own public image-the more important will a group status be to that person and the more strongly he or she will identify with it. People also attracted to groups when they fit their goals-even if those goals are relatively transient.

Another important benefit of joining groups is that doing so often helps us to accomplish goals we could not achieve alone-for example social change.

Considerable research has revealed that to be rejected by a group-even one we have recently joined-can be among the most painful experiences. Neuroimaging research makes it clear that the brain circuitry involved in processing physical pain and social pain-from losing important social bonds-overlaps considerably.

So not only are they plenty then benefits of being in an feeling a part of a group, but there are clearly psychological costs of being excluded from a group.

By joining together, people who have been the victims of prejudice gain “social clout” & can succeed in winning basic treatment for the group. How can members of groups that have been target of operation attain equal rights? One-way devalued groups cope with the discrimination they experience is to gain strength from the identity with the disadvantage group.

As a result of recognizing shade grievance, people can develop politicize collective identity, which prepares them to engage in power struggle on behalf of the group.

Research indicates that groups splinter when members perceive that the group has changed so much that it is no longer the same entity; they originally joined and when they conclude that no one will listen to the protests over this change the group splinters apart. Schism- splintering of the group into distinct factions that could not stay united under one identity....