Human social systems, and groups in partlcular, are conceived as units which, as a whole, actively strive towards the achievement of external and internal goals. This 'group action' consists of simultaneous integrated processes on various individual and social levels. Our theory comprises four groups of constructs, which refer to task structure, group structure, information processing and execution. In an ongoing group action, the task structure is projected on the group structure; according to the resulting pattern, the group processes its action related information and executes the act. The latter two processes proceed on two levels, on an individual and on a group level. There are cognition, emotion and volition on the individual, and communicahon on the group level of information processing; execution proceeds in individual action and in cooperation. A specific part of the theory concerns analogies between individual cognition and intragroup communication. AIMS AND DEPARTUREIn this paper we aim to develop the contours of a theory of group action which corresponds to our present knowledge of the directed behaviour of self-active systems, and particularly of human goal-directed action. We conceive the group as a system composed of active sub-systems, sub-groups or individual actors; group action therefore constitutes at least a two-level process. This viewpoint makes a proper analysis of group action possible, which, we believe, will in turn lead to an improved understanding of the structure and function of groups, will give a more 'We are grateful to the students of our seminars on group action and mass psychology for their discussions and criticism. meaningful order to other concepts and findings and thus may lead group psychology out of its present stagnation. Our theory should also particularly help to analyse leadership as a specific process of group action; and, although it has been primarily designed for the description and explanation of small group processes, it should further a better understanding of the action of organizations and of mass action.Why have we engaged in this ambitious enterprise? Beyond the immediate instigation, a symposium about problems of leadership2, we were impressed by the finding that current small group theory hardly analyses behaviour on the group level. As textbooks, manuals and review articles document, it mainly deals with the behaviour, cognitions and feelings, be they interactive or not, of individuals in groups or with aspects of group structure, group norms and their impact on individuals. There is one line of research (discussed by Moscovici and Paicheler 1973) which is relevant to our problem: the study of group efficiency. Let us shortly outline those ideas mainly developed in French social psychology which are of major interest for us. The first of these is the introduction of two factors beyond the capability of the individual member, namely the structure of the group and the the structure of the task as important co-producers of group efficiency (e.g. Ro...
Objective: To describe the ongoing process of German psychiatric reform and the structure and functioning of mental health services. Method: Information sources used include official reports describing mental health services, relevant publications related to organization and functioning of services. Results: There has been far‐reaching change in mental health care since the late 1960s: psychiatric hospitals have lost about 50% of their beds and one psychiatric hospital has been closed. One hundred and sixty‐five general hospital psychiatric units have been built up. Out‐patient, community and residential services have been developed. There is a lack of diversified residential and rehabilitation services, particularly for the most severely ill. Co‐ordination of care is not always ensured, transfer of patients to remote nursing homes has occurred in some places. Carers and service users articulate their views to an increasing degree. Conclusion: Political and professional enthusiasm have been important in implementation of the German reform. Evolving it further will require major efforts.
The reliability of DSM-III diagnoses using an expanded version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), called the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), was evaluated by examining 60 psychiatric inpatients on a test-retest basis. Acceptable agreement coefficients of (kappa) 0.5 or above were found for all but two disorders: dysthymic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. The subclassification of DSM-III affective disorders also revealed some discrepancies between the test and the retest interviews. When compared with results from earlier versions of the DIS, diagnostic reliability was found to have improved for the DSM-III anxiety disorders in particular. These improvements can possibly be attributed to some changes in the wording of the respective items of this section. Several reasons for lowered test-retest reliability are discussed.
In this paper, we deal with a class of movements and positions observed in human interaction which we have called orienting behavior: the orientation of the eyes, head and the whole body towards the partner. This behavior is based on physical structures in the human body, which, as with all other organisms that move in space, has its organs for input and output located in a distinct frontal orientation. ** It would be interesting to know whether evolution, in those instances where sense organs acquire signal-functions, makes use of directional characteristics, e.g., this might be the case in the development of the white human sclera. 217 A. H. Esser (ed.), Behavior and Environment
SynopsisA meta-analysis was carried out on 53 cases of dementia praecox (DP) and 134 cases of manic-depressive insanity (MDI) originally diagnosed by Kraepelin or his collaborators in Munich in 1908. The original case material was coded in terms of Present State Examination syndromes and analysed statistically for internal consistency and discrimination between the two diagnostic entities. Kraepelin's DP and MDI were found to define homogeneous groups of disorders which could be clearly distinguished from one another. A CATEGO re-classification of the cases revealed an 80·2% concordance rate between Kraepelin's diagnoses and ICD-9. Cluster analysis of the original data reproduced closely Kraepelin's dichotomous classification of the psychoses but suggested that DP was a narrower concept than schizophrenia today, while MDI was a composite group including both ‘typical’ manic-depressive illnesses and schizoaffective disorders.
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