UNDERSTANDING GROUPS STRUCTURE: NORMS

"The survivors of the crash needed to coordinate their actions if they were to stay alive. With food, water, and shelter severely limited, they were forced to interact with and rely on each other continually, and any errant action on the part of one person would disturb and even endanger several
other people. So members soon began to follow a shared set of rules that defined how the group would sleep at night, what types of duties each healthy individual was expected to perform, and how food and water were to be apportioned"
                                                                                                                           (Forsyth, 2009:145)


      Forsyth (2009) once commented that if you had to pick one parts of groups to study, you can learn the most by studying its structure which he explained to be the complex of roles, norms and inter-member relations that organizes a group. In the articles 'Understanding groups structure; unpacking roles 1&2' the concept of roles in relation to groups was relatively unpacked. In this article the part of a groups structure i shall be considering that Forsyth identified is Norms; these are consensual and often implicit standards that describe what behaviours should and should not be performed in a given context. they basically:

• entail group standards
• provide direction and motivation
• organize social interaction. they make others responses predictable

 it should be noted however that norms are not only consensual but they emerge over time from the interaction of  among members in a group. it should also be noted that the reason i keep saying norms are consensual is because i am of the opinion that norms are social standards which are accepted by a substantial part of the group. some norms that can be identified in society are folkways(ubiquitous social standards) and Mores(slightly enforced moral rues).
    Sherif's(1936) autokinetic effect studies confirmed that norms emerge, gradually, as group members’ behaviors, judgments, and beliefs align over time. the studies showed the effect of group members views in individuals norms. A dot of light was the only illumination in a dark room and some participants where asked to calculate how far they felt the light moved, all the participants gave different calculations, however over time as the studies where carried out again in groups there eventually became a convergence. this is where the norms emerge and they are what new members adopt in joining a group and remain regardless of if the original individual responsible for its inception has left the group.

Social tuning is the term that refers to the convergence of opinion.

Pluralistic ignorance: some researchers have noted that the reason for increase in alcohol consumption is as a result of pluralistic ignorance which simply means conformity to a nonexistent norm because of misconception. for example students always misjudge how much alcohol other individuals consume and so they conform to a norm that doesn't actually exist.

      When individuals internalizes(the process of making something your own) a norm, theorist identified that the experience discomfort when they realise they are acting contrary to a norm especially an injunctive(right or wrong) one.

       In conclusion to understanding how norms shapes group structure, it can be seen how studies carried out on groups by researchers and theorist has helped us understand this concept in relation to its function in groups.