There are many blocks to full participation in groups.
A potential member may not know of the existence of groups having goals and objectives similar to his own. He may know of a group and accept its goals and objectives, but disapprove of the means used to attain them. He may have a feeling of insecurity about groups, a concern as to whether or not the group will accept him. He may fear that he lacks the human relations skills to get along with the other group members or he may feel inferior to them for other reasons such as his status, educational background, or even his clothing.
A person may be hesitant to join a group because he is not sure of the groups’ expectations of its members. He may feel that the other group members are so much more skilled in human relations or know so much more about the subject under discussion that he will have to refrain from participating. There are many other blocks and frustrations. Many are operative at the conscious level in the individual, still others may be subconscious.
In order to become efficient group members, individuals should study themselves and try objectively to cope with their blocks and frustrations. A responsibility of all members in a mature democratic group is to help others to analyze themselves objectively so that they can overcome their blocks and frustrations and participate more effectively in the ongoing group process.
Adjustments to Blocks
There are many different ways to help adjust these blocks or wish frustrations, many of which are not at the rational, conscious level. Man thinks in terms of abstractions and tends to constantly organize his experiences with the universe around him. He therefore must have some rationale or mental escape for any failures in his attempts to attain goals within that experience world. The ways in which he does this are called adjustments.
Aggression – One common adjustment to frustration – the blocking of progress toward some desired goal – is aggression. When one’s ideas are not accepted or when he as a person is not accepted, he may strike back blindly. He may show his aggression by gestures, words, or even physical violence. He may feel or say: “Well, you people are not interested in good ideas;” or “Boy, what a snobbish person he is, he won’t even talk to me.” He may turn this aggression inward and condemn himself: “You stupid fool, why did you say that?”
Compensation – Sometimes an individual adjusts to wish frustration by this device. If he is frustrated in reaching a given goal, he may divert his energies into another field by substituting another goal. If as a group member he has difficulty in communicating in group discussion, he may refrain from comment during discussion but devote a tremendous amount of energy to the “leg work” in carrying out the actions decided upon by the group. In some cases this type of compensation-substitution is a rational recognition of one’s unique abilities. However, many times it is used as an excuse for not trying to improve understandings and skills to overcome this wish blockage.
Rationalization – Many adjust to wish frustration by the process of rationalization. If one finds it difficult to attain a goal, he may unconsciously explain the situation away by denying to himself that he ever wanted to attain it. Thus, when he was defeated for an office in an organization, he tells himself that after all, it is not an important office and he really didn’t have time to do a very good job even if he had been elected. If he has a frustrating experience leading a discussion, he may adjust by making the unconscious excuse that the group members really are not very good discussants and, besides, discussions never get any place anyway. Rationalization usually takes place at the unconscious level.
Identification – This adjustment may take the form of living through the lives of others by participating vicariously in their successful attainment rather than seeking satisfactions in unknown activities. Those who adjust through identification often imitate the behavior and mannerisms of the person with whom they identify themselves. In terms of this adjustment one may be able to understand the joy or sorrow of one person because of success or failure of another person with whom he identifies. Also, one may be able to understand why a given person seems satisfied with mediocre levels of attainment for himself – he really receives his rewards from the attainments of another. Other group ramifications of this adjustment can be seen by the reader.
Idealization – This form of adjustment is closely related to identification. It is the adjustment to such feelings as one’s own inadequacy by over-evaluating himself – his ability, attainment, importance. He mar also idealize other individuals and their attainments. Thus he may compensate for an unconscious feeling of inadequacy by trying to convince himself that he is really a good group member. An individual is idealizing when he assigns greater value to his contributions to the group than the group as a whole would assign to them. Idealization may be of one’s own behavior or of another person’s behavior. When an individual over-evaluates other’s behavior, he ceases to be objective about group function.
Displacement – This is the adjustment which takes place when an individual transfers the feelings he has for one person to another. It often accompanies idealization. If one person idealizes another and that individual does something of which the idealizer does not approve, he may blame someone else. Often displacement takes place because the individual doing the displacing finds it more convenient to express himself to one person than to another. A person may be angry at his boss but say nothing to him; instead he may go home in the evening and vent his spleen on his wife and children.
Projection – This adjustment to wish frustration is one wherein the individual transfers to another his own feelings of inadequacies or frustrations. If a person has been unsuccessful in his role as a discussion leader he may project the blame on the group for not playing their proper roles. Or if group member A has not expressed himself well to group member B, he may project his own inadequacy to B by accusing him of lacking an open mind.
Conversion – Conversion is the transfer of energy after or during a wish frustration into some physical symptom or complaint. In extreme cases individuals may actually develop the symptoms of a physical ailment in this adjustment to wish frustration. A person who may have wanted to do a good job as a meeting leader may actually become ill if the job doesn’t turn out the way he wanted it. All mothers are familiar with this adjustment as displayed by children; innumerable mothers have seen their youngsters develop stomach-aches on the day they were scheduled to have examinations at school. In many instances the symptoms will be very real.
Regression – The adjustment known as regression is a process of retreating from an existing complex situation to a simpler one. When an individual finds a situation too complex, he may revert in his behavior to a less mature approach in anticipation of being dealt with on this level. In its more socially acceptable forms, the individual using this form of adjustment audibly wishes for, or actually tries to create, a simpler situation. A commonly found example of this form in group situations is the oft-heard expression of individuals in growing groups that they wish the groups were smaller and more intimate. This results from the fact that most people feel more competent to communicate in primary group situations with people whom they know on a more intimate basis. Probably the most commonly observed form of this adjustment is that certain group members pout when they don’t get their own way – a regression to a childhood form of coping with this type of frustration. Negativism. This adjustment is a common one. It is the behavior pattern in which a frustrated individual responds to all subsequent alternatives in a negative way. Children frequently refuse to do anything if they can’t do what they wanted. “If I can’t pitch I won’t play.”
Fantasy - This adjustment involves the imagining of situations in which one’s goals are achieved when frustration takes place. Daydreaming is the common term applied to this form of adjustment.
Many reactions that one sees in people may at first be difficult to understand. They become more understandable when analyzed in the framework of wish frustration and adjustment to that frustration. The plea again is for rational analysis of self and one’s actions. One needs to predict the possible frustration of others and conduct oneself so these frustrations can be minimized for all. In a mature group, leaders may help group members to understand their frustrations and the adjustments they are making to those frustrations. It is within this framework that they will mature most rapidly as group members. Otherwise, the group may spend most of its time and energy in keeping members from being frustrated and have little time and energy left for productive decision making and action.
Most adjustments are complex, and it is difficult to spell out mutually exclusive definitions. It should be recognized that any occurrence may cause frustration for someone. Often because of conflicting or competitive interests, goal satisfaction to one individual means frustration to another.
It is of some interest to note that extremes of behavior as seen in excessive adjustment can be readily identified with the well-known forms of mental disease. For example, hysteria corresponds to excessive conversion, while the sociopath is an example of excessive aggression. One may recognize extreme regression in depressive psychosis and unlimited fantasy in the way the schizophrenic loses contact with reality. Opinion is divided as to whether these mental diseases are in actuality exaggerations of the frustration adjustments of normal persons or whether they have simply developed along similar patterns.
Adjustments which people make to frustrations are not necessarily good or bad. Because individuals live in an organized society in which certain freedoms to act without concern for others have been relinquished for the common good, it is inevitable that some wishes and desires will be blocked. In a democratic society, the minority position always involves frustration. Frustrations are an intrinsic and normal part of the interaction of human beings. The group member or group leader who recognizes this and attempts to create social interaction patterns within his group which will minimize frustrations will find that group morale will remain higher and the group will move more rapidly toward the achievement of its goals.
Group members need to recognize that there are both destructive and useful effects in the kinds of adjustments which one can make to goal frustrations. Adjustments such as rationalization can be used as a constant escape from the reality of the social situations in which one finds oneself. However, if this adjustment is used intelligently it provides an “escape” around the goal blockage which allows him to go on to do other constructive activities.
On the other extreme, such adjustments as regression or aggression, while they may give the individual immediate release from the tensions built up by the goal blockage, nearly always have adverse effects on group morale. When individuals or groups are blocked in the attainment of a goal, they may either change their attitudes and their goals, or strive to change the circumstances which caused the blockage in the first place. As members become more skilled at recognizing the factors which cause blockage or frustration and the kinds of adjustments made in these situations, they can choose rationally .to make those adjustments which require the least expenditure of time and emotional energy. This leads to greater individual motivation, greater personal satisfactions with the group and its activities and greater group productivity.
Evaluation may be a powerful internal force that affects group productivity. We should recognize that evaluation is ever present in groups. In some more or less systematic fashion, consciously or subconsciously, each of us is evaluating our role, status, contribution, or feelings toward the group. We evaluate other group members in the same fashion. We evaluate how well our interests or needs are being met by this group. We evaluate other groups about us. By the same token our group is being evaluated by other groups. Evaluation then is a force that is always present in a group. 
Many of us have tried to describe what goes on in a group meeting. Some of us have tried to review a meeting to determine why it was a success or failure. Various functional roles of group members are presented here in an attempt to provide a tool that will allow for a systematic recording and analysis of member unit act roles in group situations.