Activity and Interconnections of Individual and Collective Actors: An Integrative Approach to Small Group Research.

Abstract

In this article, we attempted to integrate and further develop theoretical ideas in the area of the small group research about all group activity levels (types of actors) - individual, informal subgroup, and group - and about connections among them. We have touched upon such issues as (a) modes of group activity represented by activities of each type of the actors; (b) structural and functional associations among the actors; (c) functions that each type of actors carries out with respect to another type of actors; (d) direct and indirect links among actors; (e) the influence of links between some actors on links among other actors; and (f) processes of integration and disintegration as the main mechanism for changing connections among actors. Special attention is paid to direct (immediate) personalized and depersonalized connections among actors, as well as to connections mediated by actors' connections with another actor or some object. Discussion of these issues leads to formulation of some specific propositions. Simultaneous research coverage of all three types of actors and various connections among them should allow for creating a more complete picture of small group activities and various psychological phenomena within it, including multifaceted and complex ones. It should also enable considering group structure and the essence of group dynamics differently. We conclude this article by presenting both theoretical and practical implications of the proposed integrative perspective and by posing some important questions in line with it for further discussion.