Simplifying Group Complexity

People in groups may tend toward a convenient simplification of this inevitable
complexity. Scholars have long recognized the tendency for group
members to divide other group members into groups of “us” and “them”
rather than to perceive each person as a distinct entity. Groups can often be
divided into perceptually distinct, smaller groups. For example, a committee
might be composed predominantly of elderly members, with only one or
a few young members. The general tendency is for people to focus their attention
on the smaller group. The reason for this is that the smaller group
seems to “stand out” as a perceptual figure against the background of the
larger group. Thus, the youthful member of an otherwise elderly committee
is likely to attract a disproportionate amount of attention from the committee
members.
Not only will the members of the larger group pay more attention to the
smaller group, but the members of the smaller group will do so as well.
Thus, the members of the smaller group will become more self-attentive,
more aware of themselves and their behavior. On the other hand, the members
of the larger group become less self-attentive, or, as Ed Diener contends,
more deindividuated—less aware of themselves and their behavior.
For example, the single woman in a group of mechanical engineers that are
otherwise men will quickly stand out. The male mechanical engineers may
tend to think of that one distinct individual in terms of her status as a
woman. Moreover, the lone woman may become more sensitive than usual
about her behavioral transgressions of the norms guiding sexual roles in an
all-male working environment. 368