TV programmes such as; Big Brother and Im a celebrity get me out of here will be looked at, within this essay, to work out whether these shows are able to tell us anything about group behaviour and how it affects the individual.

Introduction

At any one time everyone belongs to more than one group, whether it is; sports group, social group, business related, etc. Within these groups behaviour must change by conforming to group norms and values. As, stated by Professor Beattie, “Big Brother provides hours of footage of social interaction” TV programmes such as; “Big Brother” and “I’m a celebrity – get me out of here” will be looked at, within this essay, to work out whether these shows are able to tell us anything about group behaviour and how it affects the individual.

Group Behaviour

The definition of a group given by lecturer Wrennall is:-

“A number of people interacting together with a common purpose and a psychological awareness that they constitute a group”

People when entering groups feel the social pressure to conform. Conformity, as described by Bernstein is;

“Changing one’s behaviour or beliefs to match those of others, generally as a result of real or imagined, though unspoken, group pressure”

Although there are those who would believe themselves as an individual it is said that to fit in with a group the individual’s behaviour must change, by conforming to group norms and values. This can be seen in the reality TV shows as each goes in as an individual and as the weeks go by the contestants begin to conform as to fit in to that particular group. We can see this especially with celebrity reality shows, as before they enter the programme the general public know them as a particular character but with conformity they change their behaviour as to fit in with the group that they are interacting with at that particular time.

There are three main types of groups which are:

Formal Groups - These groups are set up by external authorities for a particular purpose
Informal Groups - These groups are set up for social needs by the individuals who are part of the group
Reference Groups - These are groups to which the individual wants to belong to and therefore model themselves on them.

In the case of “Big Brother” and “I’m a Celebrity – get me out of here!” it is clear that these groups are of the formal variety. This is because it is the producers of the show who choose the contestants to form the group for the programme.

However, according to the Psychologist Tuckman; there are 5 “stages of group formation” that must take place before a collection of individuals can be considered a group, which are:-