{"id":346,"date":"2019-01-16T00:29:26","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T00:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/part\/chapter-13-small-group-communication\/"},"modified":"2020-06-26T16:04:55","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T16:04:55","slug":"chapter-13-small-group-communication","status":"publish","type":"part","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/part\/chapter-13-small-group-communication\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 12: Small Group Communication","rendered":"Chapter 12: Small Group Communication"},"content":{"raw":"When you think of small groups, you probably think of the much dreaded \u201cgroup assignment\u201d that you\u2019ve endured in high school and college. You are less likely to think of the numerous other groups to which you belong that bring more positive experiences, such as your family and friendship groups or shared-interest groups. Group communication scholars are so aware of this common negative sentiment toward group communication that they coined the term <em>grouphate<\/em> to describe it.Susan M. Sorensen, \u201cGroup-Hate: A Negative Reaction to Group Work\u201d (paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Minneapolis, MN, May, 1981). Small groups, however, aren\u2019t just entities meant to torture students; they have served a central purpose in human history and evolution. Groups make it easier for us to complete a wide variety of tasks; help us establish meaningful social bonds; and help us create, maintain, and change our sense of self.Owen Hargie, <em>Skilled Interpersonal Interaction: Research, Theory, and Practice<\/em>, 5th ed. (London: Routledge, 2011), 433. Negative group experiences are often exacerbated by a lack of knowledge about group communication processes. We are just expected to know how to work in groups without much instruction or practice. This lack of knowledge about group communication can lead to negative group interactions, which creates a negative cycle that perpetuates further negative experiences. Fortunately, as with other areas of communication, instruction in group communication can improve people\u2019s skills and increase people\u2019s satisfaction with their group experiences.","rendered":"<p>When you think of small groups, you probably think of the much dreaded \u201cgroup assignment\u201d that you\u2019ve endured in high school and college. You are less likely to think of the numerous other groups to which you belong that bring more positive experiences, such as your family and friendship groups or shared-interest groups. Group communication scholars are so aware of this common negative sentiment toward group communication that they coined the term <em>grouphate<\/em> to describe it.Susan M. Sorensen, \u201cGroup-Hate: A Negative Reaction to Group Work\u201d (paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Minneapolis, MN, May, 1981). Small groups, however, aren\u2019t just entities meant to torture students; they have served a central purpose in human history and evolution. Groups make it easier for us to complete a wide variety of tasks; help us establish meaningful social bonds; and help us create, maintain, and change our sense of self.Owen Hargie, <em>Skilled Interpersonal Interaction: Research, Theory, and Practice<\/em>, 5th ed. (London: Routledge, 2011), 433. Negative group experiences are often exacerbated by a lack of knowledge about group communication processes. We are just expected to know how to work in groups without much instruction or practice. This lack of knowledge about group communication can lead to negative group interactions, which creates a negative cycle that perpetuates further negative experiences. Fortunately, as with other areas of communication, instruction in group communication can improve people\u2019s skills and increase people\u2019s satisfaction with their group experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"menu_order":13,"template":"","meta":{"pb_part_invisible":false,"pb_part_invisible_string":""},"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-346","part","type-part","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/part"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/346\/revisions\/454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=346"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-oneonta-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}