The Snow White Theory illustrates how to recognize the seven personality types most often observed in a group environment - Dopey, Doc, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Bashful and Sleepy!

Most of us deal with such situations on a daily basis. As such, we are constantly faced with the forces of Group Dynamics. Most succinctly, Group Dynamics is the science of understanding the forces that act on human thinking and behavior when we congregate in groups.

A Group Is An Entity Unto Itself, With Strong Dynamics Shaping The Behavior Of Its Individual Members

As much as we all like to believe we are unique individuals, capable of choosing our opinions and behaviors independent of the influence of those around us, research consistently proves otherwise. Indeed, there are powerful, almost tidal forces inherent in a group environment, forces that sway individual participants, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors greatly. A group is an entity of its own, and there are good reasons for this – reasons having to do with evolution and survival of the species and reasons which pull at the core instincts built into our biology.

Less than 10,000 years ago, one couldn’t survive unless they were part of a group. Man’s natural predators, the environment, and rival tribes were all too harsh to allow an individual to prevail on his or her own. There was safety in numbers. We hunted in groups, sheltered in groups, and groups allowed us to divide up labor and become more proficient and specialized. Simply put – people were better off functioning as part of a group or tribe than trying to make it on their own. (In fact, one of the worst punishments in ancient times was being ostracized or forced to function without a group). In many cases, our survival depended upon it.

But there was a problem. Group functioning required that individual needs, desires, and actions be subordinated to the will of the group so it could function as a whole. (A group could not hunt with everyone running in different directions, nor could they build shelter, or coordinate the sharing of food and other resources). Our survival depended upon us developing instincts that helped us ‘fit in’ when we were part of a group – we had to learn to quickly and automatically subjugate our individual will to the collective will of the group entity.

The Forces of Primitive Group Dynamics Still Enter Modern Day Groups

Think about it for a moment. You can still feel these instincts in some modern situations. Recall the last time you were in a crowd and everyone began to cheer. Maybe it was at a sporting event or maybe a political rally. Maybe it was just a game of family charades or Pictionary. But, as the group began to verbalize their support for moving towards a common goal, you felt an instinctual pull to mobilize yourself with the group. There’s an excitement, a great big “YES” inside of most of us that says ‘I WANT TO BELONG – I WILL DO BETTER IF I BELONG – I AM EXCITED TO BE PART OF THIS CROWD – I MUST DO WHAT IS NECESSARY TO BELONG TO THIS CROWD”.

People Will Sacrifice Their True Opinions, Thoughts, and Feelings in Order to Achieve Their Desired Role In The Group

If you took psychology or sociology in college, you may have read about some of the classic conformity experiments. In one example, an unknowing research subject is led into a room with 9 other ‘actors’ (experimenters). The whole group is then shown two sets of lines exactly the same length. The group is then asked (I am paraphrasing) ‘please raise your left hand if you think the left line is clearly longer, your right hand if you think the right line is clearly longer, or both hands if you think they are equal. Without hesitation the 9 actors raise their right hand (even though the lines are clearly equal in length). Then it is the research subject’s turn to indicate their answer. What percent of research subjects do you think would give the truth – that the lines are equal? The answer is frighteningly small, less than 10%. When interviewed afterwards they usually said something like ‘yeah, I really thought they were equal, but I didn’t want to stand out’. In other words, 9 out of 10 people give in to the group pressure to quickly come to consensus and develop a unified opinion. Even when that opinion is clearly wrong, and they individually disagree, they will behave otherwise to be part of a group.

The problem with all this for modern day tasks is that we are no longer facing tigers and bears and the forces of nature (at least not nearly to the extent we used to). Instead, as groups, we are facing more intellectual, cognitive challenges that are better faced not by group consensus, but by ensuring that each group member’s individual resources are placed squarely on the table for all to see. Research in-group problem solving demonstrates that the greater number of genuine ideas that are put forth by participants, the more successful is the group at solving the problem in a manner that maximally benefits all group members. This is true whether the problem is deciding upon which movie to see and what restaurant to go to, or determining the appropriate international policy a country should take regarding another nation.

To Conduct Successful Groups, You Need To Recognize And Neutralize Primitive Group Forces

In order to conduct successful groups of all kinds, one needs to be able to identify the primitive forces of group dynamics as they manifest themselves in a group, and to neutralize them so that the group can optimally function to solve more modern day problems. When properly neutralized, each group member is able to contribute their true opinions and optimize their creative resources towards solving the problems of the group.

There Are Many Ways To 'Fit In' Or Belong To A Group. Seven, To Be More Precise.

Much more than the primitive instinct to conform interferes with optimal group functioning Primitive group dynamics required that individual participants play particular roles. Some were leaders; others would follow in their own unique ways. Some would quietly hide in the background; others would loudly make their opinions known. Some would falsely admire the leaders for fear of being ostracized; others would function as peacemakers trying to neutralize all conflicts before they brewed too much disruption.

Snow White Got It Right!

The classic story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves details in caricature the different postures that people tend to play in a group in order to maintain group cohesion. Happy, Grumpy, Sleep, Doc, Bashful, Dopey, and Sneezy can be thought of as primitive defenses against expressing truly individual thoughts and behaviors, in favor of ‘belonging’to the group.

In her work conducting over 6,000 corporate meetings and focus groups, Dr. Sharon Livingston has astutely picked up on this, and formulated a method for quickly diagnosing the ‘dwarf type’people might be portraying in a group. After diagnosing these roles, she seeks to understand the psychological motivations that motivate them, and, with this knowledge in hand, intervenes in such a way as to allow the TRUE thoughts and feelings of each group member to emerge. The results are a more cooperative, more smoothly flowing group, one that has a MUCH higher probability of accomplishing its goals.

People Will Sacrifice Their True Opinions, Thoughts, and Feelings in Order to Achieve Their Desired Role In The Group

If you took psychology or sociology in college, you may have read about some of the classic conformity experiments. In one example, an unknowing research subject is led into a room with 9 other ‘actors’ (experimenters). The whole group is then shown two sets of lines exactly the same length. The group is then asked (I am paraphrasing) ‘please raise your left hand if you think the left line is clearly longer, your right hand if you think the right line is clearly longer, or both hands if you think they are equal. Without hesitation the 9 actors raise their right hand (even though the lines are clearly equal in length). Then it is the research subject’s turn to indicate their answer. What percent of research subjects do you think would give the truth – that the lines are equal? The answer is frighteningly small, less than 10%. When interviewed afterwards they usually said something like ‘yeah, I really thought they were equal, but I didn’t want to stand out’. In other words, 9 out of 10 people give in to the group pressure to quickly come to consensus and develop a unified opinion. Even when that opinion is clearly wrong, and they individually disagree, they will behave otherwise to be part of a group.

The problem with all this for modern day tasks is that we are no longer facing tigers and bears and the forces of nature (at least not nearly to the extent we used to). Instead, as groups, we are facing more intellectual, cognitive challenges, those which are better faced not by group consensus, but by ensuring that each group member’s individual resources are placed squarely on the table for all to see. Research in-group problem solving demonstrates that the greater number of genuine ideas that are put forth by participants, the more successful is the group at solving the problem in a manner that maximally benefits all group members. This is true whether the problem is deciding upon which movie to see and what restaurant to go to, or determining the appropriate international policy a country should take regarding another nation.

To Conduct Successful Groups, You Need To Recognize And Neutralize Primitive Group Forces

In order to conduct successful groups of all kinds, one needs to be able to identify the primitive forces of group dynamics as they manifest themselves in a group, and to neutralize them so that the group can optimally function to solve more modern day problems. When properly neutralized, each group member is able to contribute their true opinions and optimize their creative resources towards solving the problems of the group.

So, from these choices presented to you, pick your poison (position) and have at it!