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Essay / Personal Experience with Human Behavior - 2783
The purpose of this research work is to reflect and discuss the authors' personal experiences with human behavior and relate them to theory and research. Examine and provide insight into changing experiences as a member of a small experimental classroom group; Apply various topics taught in the Group Behavior (Psyc 3430) course and explore the various experiential learning opportunities on group behavior in the classroom. The author had experiences with two classroom groups - group 4, "Jordan's get it done" and group 20 "Procrastination". The demographics of the two groups were quite similar since the members were all students of the York University Group 4 consisted of members A, B and C (males aged 21-26) and member D (female aged 36). Group 20 consisted of members A, E and F (elderly males). aged 23 to 27) and members G and H (females aged 22 to 25).I. Formation and structure of the group Development of the group When new members joined group 4, the author observed various effects on the development of the group Adding members to the group "resets" the group and/or creates a new group completely separate and unique from the original. When new members joined the group, the old relationships between them deteriorated. and new relationships emerged. These effects were felt in group 4 with the addition of new members - in class #2, member C joined and in class #3 member D joined. Changes in group composition created tension toward older group members, decreased confidence, and stressed performance, as observed by the author through members' communication patterns and behaviors. . New members joining the group greatly interfered with the completion of class assignments, as meetings with new members and presentations on group norms and roles took time to rearrange... middle of article ……expert power of Member A was positively correlated with compliance and competence. Conclusion With reference to the various studies and experiences, the authors' experience regarding classroom groups has been elaborated. By connecting theory, research, and reading journals on group development, conflict, and leadership, the author gained an enriched perspective and understanding of his experiences. Using what was taught in the classroom and at home, the author experienced “real-time” experiential learning about classroom group behavior. The limitation of the authors' classroom experiences is the short duration of experiential learning opportunities. Lasting only about three months, members met in class only once a week and occasionally communicated outside of class via email. Longer duration is better to get more precise and astute observations.