Abstract
Most group dynamics researchers, understandably enough, have been more concerned with group-level processes than with the needs and feelings of individual group members. Thus, while many important structural and dynamic group phenomena have been identified-social facilitation, rejection of deviants, coalition formation, creation of leadership and status hierarchies-relatively little is known about the needs that cause individuals to join groups in the first place and that give groups so much power over their members. Presumably, individuals join groups and yield to group demands because group life offers certain rewards which cannot be obtained easily or at all in nongroup settings. We know intuitively that being rejected by attractive groups or consigned to low-status positions within them is psychologically painful, but most group researchers have taken this for granted rather than attempting to explain it. In the present chapter we consider how loneliness, an emotional state that arises when certain social needs go unmet, may be related to group life.
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Reference Notes
Buhrmester, D., Shaver, P., Furman, W., & Willems, T. Social skills and relationship development during a life transition. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Washington, D.C., August, 1982.
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Shaver, P., Buhrmester, D. (1983). Loneliness, Sex-Role Orientation and Group Life: A Social Needs Perspective. In: Paulus, P.B. (eds) Basic Group Processes. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5578-9_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5578-9_11
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