[1] During small group communication, interdependent participants analyze data, evaluate the nature of the problem(s), decide and provide a possible solution or procedure.
[4][5] The first important research study of small group communication was performed in front of a live studio audience in Hollywood California by social psychologist Robert Bales and published in a series of books and articles in the early and mid 1950s .
[6][7][8] This research entailed the content analysis of discussions within groups making decisions about "human relations" problems (i.e., vignettes about relationship difficulties within families or organizations).
He believed that this shifting was the product of an implicit attempt to balance the demands of task completion and group cohesion, under the presumption that conflict generated during task discussion causes stress among members, which must be released through positive relational talk.
The idea that all groups performing a given type of task go through the same series of stages in the same order was replicated through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s; with most finding four phases of discussion.
In the 1980s, communication researcher Marshall Scott Poole examined a sample of groups without making these errors and noted substantial differences among them in the number and order of stages.
[10] He hypothesized that groups finding themselves in some difficulty due to task complexity, an unclear leadership structure or poor cohesion act as if they feel the need to conduct a "complete" discussion and thus are more likely to pass through all stages as the linear phase model implies, whereas groups feeling confident due to task simplicity, a clear leadership structure and cohesion are more likely to skip stages apparently deemed unnecessary.
Informational influence occurs when group members are persuaded by the content of what they read or hear to accept an opinion; Sherif's study appears to be an example.
Although some of the participants in the Asch studies who conformed admitted that they had complied, the ones mentioned above who believed the majority to be correct are best considered to have been persuaded through normative influence.
The first factor covers whether a person prioritizes their needs as more or less important than the group's necessities.
In those low uncertainty avoidance cultures, individuals prefer and are comfortable with constant change and scarce rules.
[17] Any group has conflicts, topics that people do not agree on, different points of view on how to move forward with a task and so on.
Secondly, small group members face conflict, where each person shares ideas or possible solutions to a problem.
Lastly is closure, where small group team members agree completely on an idea and start taking action.
As a consequence, it was a surprise to many social psychologists when in the early 1960s, evidence appeared that group decisions often became more extreme than the average of the individual predisposed judgment.
Research has clearly demonstrated that group polarization is primarily a product of persuasion not compliance.
The other 'persuasive arguments theory' (PAT), begins with the notion that each group member enters discussion aware of a set of items of information favoring both sides of the issue but lean toward that side that boasts the greater amount of information.
Although PAT has strong empirical support, it would imply that unshared items of information on the opposite side of the favored position would also come up in discussion, canceling the tendency to polarize.
Persuasive arguments theory implies that the items of information favoring A should also come up, leading to each member changing their mind but research has indicated that this does not occur.
It is often said that human communication consists of 93% body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves[25] - however, Albert Mehrabian, the researcher whose 1960s work is the source of these statistics, has stated that this is a misunderstanding of the findings[26] (see Misinterpretation of Mehrabian's rule).
Physical expressions like waving, pointing, touching and slouching are all forms of nonverbal communication.
[27] Body language is a form of non-verbal communication involving the use of stylized gestures, postures, and physiologic signs which act as cues to other people.
Intimate distance is the space around us that we reserve for lovers, children, as well as close family members and friends.
This zone is used for speeches, lectures, and theater; essentially, public distance is that range reserved for larger audiences.
[30] Misunderstandings in communication are common because of the many different factor, that is the way of conveying message; which is done through language.
Small groups often contain and develop an idioculture, a set of shared meanings as well as negotiate status.