Groups Reference Groupschapter What Is The Persp
Chapter 2 Questions
1. Define, explain, and give examples of the following using the language of social
psychology (S.P.) used in the text. When an idea is credited to a specific name or names,
be certain to give the names.
I. Explain the basic approach of the Symbolic Interactionist perspective.
II. Define these concepts in the Symbolic Interactionist perspective.
a. Society
b. Agency
c. Symbol
d. Language
e. Social construction of reality
f. Thomas theorem
g. Social scripts
h. Iowa and Indiana schools of symbolic interactionism.
III. Explain the basic approach of the Social Structure and Personality perspective.
IV. Define these concepts in the Social Structure and Personality perspective.
a. Components principle
b. Proximity principle
c. Psychology Principle
d. Status
e. Roles
f. Social norms
g. Social networks
h. Social forces
V. Explain the basic approach of the Group Processes perspective.
VI. Define these concepts in the Group Processes perspective.
a. Group
b. Power
c. Justice
d. Legitimacy
e. Group Size – Dyad
f. Group Size – Triad
g. Types of groups – Primary groups
h. Types of groups – Secondary groups
i. Types of groups – Reference groups
Chapter 2 Self-Application over lecture
After reading the lecture “SIGNS AND SYMBOLS,” sit in front of a mirror. Using your hands,
your face, and any other body parts to give signs and symbols, make a list of the meanings you
could deliver to another person without saying a word. Try for a bare minimum of twenty.
Please refer to the attatchment “SIGNS AND SYMBOLS” for this self-application
questions.
Self-Applications over Class Lecture Grading Rubric: Based on the thoughtfulness of your effort in working with ideas from the
lecture and chapter. One approach could be to take a couple of the main ideas from the chapter
and apply them to the lecture in the light of your own life experiences. If upon completion you
feel you have accomplished something in advancing your understanding of human behavior,
your effort will be acceptable.
Self-Application over Lecture – Example (DO NOT USE, JUST AN EXAMPLE!)
Throughout this chapter, I learned some important information regarding the art of
persuasion. I, like the author, like to argue and always want to be right. My belief is that logic
and common sense should be prevalent enough to come up to the same conclusions that I
have. I’ve not taken into account the emotions of a person and what they think might be in it for
me. When I make arguments (pending on the situation), I want to come to a decision that will
best accommodate everyone involved. Others will agree that I put other people’s interest way
before my own. For example, during the holiday season, there was an overnight shift at work
that had to be covered for someone who had a family emergency and was unable to work. The
person who did the scheduling for the program came to me and said that she had talked to
everyone personally and nobody was willing to cover the shift. During staff meeting a couple
days later, I discussed the open overnight shift. In my discussion I talked up the team as to how
great we were compared to other programs, how tight we have bonded and are always helping
one another. At the end, I offered to cover part of the overnight shift (mentioning that I was an
exempt employee and wouldn’t get paid for the extra hours) and was looking for others who
would split the shift with me. More than half of the staff offered to help with the shift. My staff
is aware that I do not expect them to do anything that I have not or will not do myself and
although I don’t have to prove it, it reassures their perception of me when I do.
While revisiting this situation, I wondered why the supervisor was unable to get anyone
to work the overnight shift. She was more than prepared to do it herself until the staff
meeting. She has a good rapport with most all of the staff but is still somewhat new to her
position as supervisor. I have a greater influence over the staff than she does due to my position,
competence and rapport with all the staff members individually and as a team. Since she is new
to the position, she has yet to gain this status and trust with all the staff. Talking up the team as a
whole put everyone in a good mood, not to mention that I announced we were awarded “Provider
of the Year” by the Division of Youth Corrections for this year. When I presented the lack of
coverage as a team issue, the majority of staff was willing to jump in and help out. Everyone
but myself was to gain financially from this shift as it would have been overtime for most. Showing that I was willing to go above and beyond set the bar high for everyone and
many were ready to meet the challenge.
Above I mentioned that I always like to be right, and so does my wife. Often times this
ends up in pretty funny debates as to how we can convince each other of our view. Most of these
debates are over trivial issues that neither of us care about and being right or wrong will not
impact us either way. We both like to argue. In my bookcase I have a book by Gerry Spence
How to Argue and Win Every Time. This is a book I read almost 10 years ago and barely
remember the information in it. My wife has seen the book (not read it) and refers to it often in
the context that I might need to brush up and read the book again just to spite me. Recently we
had a discussion regarding preschool for our oldest daughter. She did a lot of research regarding
the educational opportunities in our community and had scheduled a tour. The school we were
to tour was for low to middle class families and a very few high income families. To my
complete astonishment we were considered high income. The chances were not good that we
would be able to get into this school due to our status. Other schools in the area were primarily
Christian based schools. My wife is uncomfortable with sending our children to Christian
schools mainly because she never has been to church and it is “the unknown” to her. She has no
desire to even attend a church sermon to see what it’s about. I on the other hand, went to church
every Sunday of my youth. I am much more comfortable sending my children to a Christian
school than she is because of my familiarity with it. In my persuasion to get her to at least
consider a Christian school, I mentioned that neither one of us has anything to lose in this
situation. The schooling is for our daughter and regardless of biases we need to consider all
options. Maybe I do remember a thing or two from Gerry Spence. In the end we both agreed to
visit 3-4 preschool programs and pick the one we felt would be best for our daughter, biases
aside. In this situation we both had emotional views that went beyond our daughter’s
education. I am more comfortable with a Christian based school due to my past experiences with church and the type of people that church collects (as in good natured people). On the other
hand, a school for mostly low income families can put our daughter in a position of mingling
with children or siblings of our clients. Not that she would have any knowledge of this but the
idea that we do make enemies could potentially put her at harm. What a thought. Might as well
home school!