WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SOCIOMETRIC STRUCTURE OF SMALL GROUPS IN EMERGENCIES AND EXTREME CONDITIONS

Abstract

Emergencies and extreme conditions obviously place unaccustomed stresses upon the sociometric structure of groups. Studies conducted by the author and his colleagues (14) suggest that the process of group adaptation under stress is much the same as Selye (8) has found for individual physiological adaptation to stress. In other words, groups appear to respond to increasing stress first by lag in response, then by overcompensatory response, and finally by collapse, if the stress continues without abatement. In preparing groups to behave more effectively in emergencies and extreme situations, it is important that we know what types of group structure adapt most readily to ensure rapid overcompensatory response when increasing stress is first encountered and continued adaptive behavior or will-to-survive as stresses accumulate. First, however, we need to know what happens to group structure in emergencies and extreme conditions.