Group cohesiveness is the degree or strength of bonds linking members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main components: social relations, task relations, perceived unity, and emotions. Members of strongly cohesive groups are more inclined to participate readily and to stay with the group.
Definition There are different ways to define group cohesion, depending on how researchers conceptualize this concept. However, most researchers define cohesion to be task commitment and interpersonal attraction to the group.
Cohesion can be more specifically defined as the tendency for a group to be in unity while working towards a goal or to satisfy the emotional needs of its members. This definition includes important aspects of cohesiveness, including its multidimensionality, dynamic nature, instrumental basis, and emotional dimension. Its multidimensionality refers to how cohesion is based on many factors. Its dynamic nature refers to how it gradually changes over time in its strength and form from the time a group is formed to when a group is disbanded. Its instrumental basis refers to how people cohere for some purpose, whether it be for a task or for social reasons. Its emotional dimension refers to how cohesion is pleasing to its group members. This definition can be generalized to most groups characterized by the group definition discussed above. These groups include sports teams, work groups, military units, fraternity groups, and social groups. However, other researchers claim that cohesion cannot be generalized across many groups.
Antecedents of cohesion The bonds between group members do not develop spontaneously. They develop from a number of components such as attraction, coordination, sense of belonging and shared emotions. The components can be known as antecedents of cohesion. Moreover, they also define the nature of cohesion. Each component is explained in-depth below.
Attraction Festinger and his colleagues in 1950 focused on attraction as a force in comparison to any other forces.Festinger et al. (1950) In a study, they asked the group members to identify all their good friends and calculated the ratio of ingroup choices to outgroup choices. According to Dion in 2000, the greater the ratio, the greater the cohesiveness of the group.Dion (2000) Hogg in 1992 and 2001 noted personal attraction is not a group cohesion even though members of cohesive groups like one another.Hogg (1992)Hogg (2001) Group cohesion is similar to a type of group-level attraction which, according to Hogg, is known as social attraction. Social attraction is a liking for other group members based on their status as typical group members. Attraction is a basic ingredient for most groups, however, when interpersonal relations between group members intensify, it can transform a conjoined group into a cohesive one.
Sense of belonging In a cohesive group, individuals tend to fuse together to form a whole. Nonmembers who would encounter a group will be convinced that it is a tightly bonded group. Group members would express their sense of belonging to the group by being loyal to the group, identifying with the group and classifying themselves as members. They would also describe their unity by using terms such as family, us, community, team, etc.
Coordination It is believed that cohesion is more about the willingness to work together to accomplish a set of goals than the interpersonal relationships between group members. According to Siebold in 2007, task-oriented groups such as flight crews and military squads share a drive to accomplish their goals.
Shared emotions One of the most obvious features of a cohesive group is a shared positive emotion. Emotional cohesion is a multilevel process as emotions can be collective. For example, a group member may experience emotion when he/she learns that the other group member has been mistreated. An emotion is a collective emotion when all the members of a group experience the same emotional reaction. The intensity of such emotions is high when the members strongly identify with their group.
Factors The forces that push group members together can be positive (group-based rewards) or negative (things lost upon leaving the group). The main factors that influence group cohesiveness are: members' similarity, group size, entry difficulty, group success and external competition and threats. Often, these factors work through enhancing the identification of individuals with the group they belong to as well as their beliefs of how the group can fulfill their personal needs.
Social cohesion operates on three distinct levels: community individual institutional It manifests itself precisely at their intersection. Consequently, individual motivation alone is not enough for a person to feel a sense of cohesion if institutions exclude them or if the community fails to provide a welcoming environment.
Similarity of group members Similarity of group members has different influences on group cohesiveness depending on how to define this concept. Lott and Lott who referred in 1965 to interpersonal attraction as group cohesiveness conducted an extensive review on the literature and found that individuals' similarities in background (e.g., race, ethnicity, occupation, age), attitudes, values and personality traits have generally positive association with group cohesiveness.
On the other hand, from the perspective of social attraction as the basis of group cohesiveness, similarity among group members is the cue for individuals to categorize themselves and others into either an ingroup or outgroup. In this perspective, the more prototypical similarity individuals feel between themselves and other ingroup members, the stronger the group cohesiveness will be.
In addition, similar background makes it more likely that members share similar views on various issues, including group objectives, communication methods and the type of desired leadership. In general, higher agreement among members on group rules and norms results in greater trust and less dysfunctional conflict. This, in turn, strengthens both emotional and task cohesiveness.
Similar social experiences can also lead to cohesions between different groups. If members of different groups experience disadvantage on a shared dimension, this typically leads to more cohesion between them. For instance, in the U.S., members of different minoritized groups who share experiences of racial/ethnic discrimination, were more likely to identify as belonging to the same social group, in this case People of Color. However, at the same time, when groups perceive themselves as competitors or perceive themselves to not share the same social experiences, this type of cohesion breaks down. For instance, a study of the Flint water crisis showed that emotional distance led people to morally disengage, undermining their support behaviors for those dirctly affected by the crisis.
Entry difficulty Difficult entry criteria or procedures to a group tend to present it in more exclusive light. The more elite the group is perceived to be, the more prestigious it is to be a member in that group. As shown in dissonance studies conducted by Aronson and Mills in 1959 and confirmed by Gerard and Mathewson in 1966, this effect can be due to dissonance reduction (see cognitive dissonance).Aronson and Mills (1959)Gerard and Mathewson (1966) Dissonance reduction can occur when a person has endured arduous initiation into a group; if some aspects of the group are unpleasant, the person may distort their perception of the group because of the difficulty of entry. Thus, the value of the group increases in the group member's mind.
Group size Small groups are more cohesive than large groups. This is often caused by social loafing, a theory that says individual members of a group will actually put in less effort, because they believe other members will make up for the slack. It has been found that social loafing is eliminated when group members believe their individual performances are identifiable – much more the case in smaller groups.
In primatology and anthropology, the limits to group size are theorized to accord with Dunbar's number.
Consequences Group cohesion has been linked to a range of positive and negative consequences. Its consequences on motivation, performance, member satisfaction, member emotional adjustment, and the pressures felt by the member will be examined in the sections below.
Motivation Cohesion and motivation of team members are key factors that contribute to a team's performance.Forsyth, D. R. (2021). Recent advances in the study of group cohesion. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 25(3), 213–228. https://doi.org/10.1037/gdn0000163 By adaptability development, self-worth, and personal motivation growth, each member becomes able to feel confident and progress in the team. Social loafing is less frequent when there is cohesion in a team;Lam, C. (2015). The Role of Communication and Cohesion in Reducing Social Loafing in Group Projects. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 78(4), 454-475. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329490615596417 (Original work published 2015) the motivation of each team member is considerably greater.
Performance Studies have shown that cohesion can cause performance and that performance can cause cohesion. Most meta-analyses (studies that have summarized the results of many studies) have shown that there is a relationship between cohesion and performance. This is the case even when cohesion is defined in different ways. When cohesion is defined as attraction, it is better correlated with performance. When it is defined as task commitment, it is also correlated with performance, though to a lesser degree than cohesion as attraction. Not enough studies were performed with cohesion defined as group pride. In general, cohesion defined in all these ways was positively related with performance.
However, some groups may have a stronger cohesion-performance relationship than others. Smaller groups have a better cohesion-performance relationship than larger groups. Carron in 2002 found cohesion-performance relationships to be strongest in sports teams and ranked the strength of the relationship in this order (from strongest to weakest): sports teams, military squads, groups that form for a purpose, groups in experimental settings.Carron (2002) There is some evidence that cohesion may be more strongly related to performance for groups that have highly interdependent roles than for groups in which members are independent.
In regards to group productivity, having attraction and group pride may not be enough. It is necessary to have task commitment in order to be productive. Furthermore, groups with high performance goals were extremely productive.
The link between cohesion and performance can differ depending on the nature of the group that is studied. Some studies that have focused on this relationship have led to divergent results. For example, a study conducted on the link between cohesion and performance in a governmental social service department found a low positive association between these two variables, while a separate study on groups in a Danish military unit found a high negative association between these two variables.
Member satisfaction
Studies have shown that people in cohesive groups have reported more satisfaction than members of a noncohesive group. This is the case across many settings, including industrial, athletic, and educational settings. Members in cohesive groups also are more optimistic and suffer less from social problems than those in non-cohesive groups.