The Passive Small Group: Working Concepts

Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin Medical School A small group that shows little substance, involvement, or prospects for change poses a common practical problem for the group leader or consultant, who must identify the relevant issues that need to be spoken to or interpreted. This paper presents three perspectives that should be considered by the group leader or consultant in the diagnosis of these situations: (1) intergroup difficulties; (2) patterns of shared magical thinking; and (3) negative (ego) judgments about the safety of the situation for individual contributions. The literature which separately describes each of these perspectives is reviewed. A case study, of a Small Study Group, in which all three kinds of issues arose at different points in its history, demonstrates the practical application of this integrated theory of passivity in the small group. Although many situations of passive, apparently uninvolved small groups have behind this surface a complexity of intergroup tensions, magical thinking, and concerns for ego defense, one of these issues is apt to dominate the orientation of the group members for a given period of time, and thus be most available for inquiry and interpretation. The implications of each mode of orientation of the passive group for management and interpretation by the group leader or consultant are also separately considered.