The Energy Dynamics of Group Personality

First and foremost, Psychology is a science of the individual, human consciousness and behavior.  Even so, professional interest in group psychology and group personality goes back decades.  The academic theme is that groups evolve a unified character and projected persona expressive of its behavioral history the same way as individuals.  

Sociological research is primarily focused upon common behavioral traits and/or some configurational matrix of group members’ behavioral and social data.  Collectively, other academic and societal adaptations affirm that groups are real entities which have life and being since they are able to grow and to develop their original purpose in relation to the environment in which they have selected to live.  Further, it has even been asserted legally that group corporate personhood exists with constitutional rights equal to those of individual citizens.*

Indeed, a group does exhibit personality characteristics akin to those ascribed to the individual.  At their core they are both representative of the same psychic thermal activity.  Both arise from the same energy source (human consciousness) and require a locale (the psyche) where energy is either stored or transmitted immediately to produce an end product (behavior) that embodies value.  This incessant input, transformation and output of psychic energy play a quintessential role in a group’s personality development.        

Philosophy, and more specifically metaphysics, creatively presents ontological theses of human consciousness primarily by means of abstraction and/or symbolism.  This is practically unavoidable while bringing forward in discussion the primal ingredients of human consciousness in conjunction with the natural life process. 

Deeply inspired and exotic mystical theology has evolved all sorts of systems crafted to introduce and inculcate the intricacies of the self, consciousness and awareness.  Hebraic Kabbalah, Christian mysticism, Sufism and a myriad array of Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist esoteric traditions attest to the enduring cultural varieties found around the globe.   

As with the individual, the analysis of group personality begins with a look at the basic thermal activity within the group psyche in mechanical terms.  This requires first that a group define and design its intended system of operation, its purpose for coming into being. 

The group’s energy input supply will obviously come from its members.  Then there needs to be a locale where work is done along with some statement of expected production efficiency regarding the success of the work the group will do.  And finally, some metric of the expected benefit from the group’s efforts or the value of the end product from the work.  

However, the scholarly study of psychological and social systems is not always so straightforward.  The main reason (and a quick nod to Erwin Schrödinger here) is that research methodology must now account for the inestimable variable of human consciousness at the very onset of a system’s design process.  This requires that the dominance of proven scientific methodology cede some territory to time-honored philosophic discourse regarding societal propriety since both individuals and groups present a unique historical interwoven continuity that finds relevance in the study of human behavior in today’s evolving world. 

Ancient Greek philosophers apparently grappled with this behavioral issue for they argued extensively about the individual, ethical behavior, societal morality and what registered as virtuous character as assessed by observable conduct.  Any discussion of personality in this day-n-age, individual or group, remains hollow without attention to these fundamental ingredients of human temperament and behavior. 

We sentient beings are very fortunate in that our inherent consciousness provides each of us with a utility generally referred to as a moral compass.  In a word, the sages of ancient India called it “dharma”; and it affects every aspect of an individual’s moment-by-moment evolving personal and social life.

Dharma registers in one’s awareness as an involuntary common sense permeating the decision-making process.  Whether or not we pay heed to this thermal impulse, and to what degree, remains a matter of individual choice.

More than a directional behavioral signpost though dharma’s universal function is to affirm order and simplicity in life.  This is because dharma is psychologically bound to counter the universal tendency of entropy within the psyche.  The thermal dynamic instantaneously penetrates, either positively or negatively, the inextricable personality center that is sensitive to all of one’s unique propensities throughout the life process.  

And dharma is entirely experiential.  However, like gravity more is known from dharma’s observational qualities and effects rather than its actual material composition.  We can see it when countenance and character meld as personality. 

It’s the group’s personality that provides a window of the ongoing thermal dynamics within its psyche.  As with the individual, the incessant thermal interplay of dharma and entropy set homeostatic guardrails that affect behavior.  All-in-all, it’s a flexible thermal range that determines what we come to expect of a group’s normal activity throughout its life process.

As previously mentioned, the energy input to the group personality system is derived from its members. The deep personality dynamic of the group is an amalgam of individual psyches and will indicate the overall system’s operational efficiency. 

Consensual agreement decides the work to be done by the group.  This collective interplay of human psyches will generate a singular, idiosyncratic process regarding the group’s purpose and the value of the resultant actions it intends to perform.  Group meetings, community gatherings, newsletters and social media are common venues where the energy of the group can be gathered up and stored for later application or immediately transmitted to its environment by the actions of its members

It is simply observable behavior through time that establishes a group’s countenance and character, its personality.  The degree to which a group adheres to its initial design purpose, its reason to form and exist within a specified social environment, contributes greatly to the overall and ongoing homeostatic thermal dynamic of the group’s personality.   

The energy dynamic within the group psyche highlights the all too familiar variables of (mind) set and (social) setting which must factor into a group’s personality assessment.  A group that is socially apt and remains true to what it promotes of itself will engender respect within its self-created environment (of affirmative growth) and bespeak of trustworthiness and reliability. 

For a variety of reasons unique to each group, it may decide to alter, amend and/or make some basic changes to its system’s operation.  This will necessarily have an impact upon the ongoing thermal activity within the group psyche.

Positive changes, those consistent with previous group behavior, integrate affirmatively within the group psyche, meaning that they favorably plug into the group’s overall life process.  The system’s basic work and efficiency is retained if not improved with the change(s), and continues to support the group’s initial ambitions.  Members remain loyal while membership stands steady, or perhaps increases.  Social and cultural observers will generally report amicably of the group’s new persona and activity. 

It should be obvious that the opposite occurs when group decisions are made that are at variance and discordant with its initial design directives.  Negative changes waste available energy; they work to impede and restrict, or even shut down the prevailing personality system. 

These types of adverse decisions disrupt the homeostatic balance within the group psyche beyond what was deemed reliable thermal tolerance.  According to degree, dysfunctional groups can potentially create a vortex of disorder and chaos for themselves and their immediate environment.   

Continued inimical deviations from a group’s normal behavior will in time fracture the trust that members retain of the group’s initial mission.  Internal disappointment is soon followed by declining membership and likely accompanied by reduced financial support, poor public imaging and possibly negative media reporting.      

Here, the group’s behavioral rebranding choices act as a destructive force inhibiting dharma’s influence.  The new personality system may become so antithetical to existing personality modalities that it may eventually lead to a complete dissolution of the old group’s design and purpose.**  This is a case of thermal annihilation within the group’s psyche, an instance of maximum psychic entropy.   

Initial analysis of group personality assumes a normal behavioral history and character that substantiate a group’s elan vital.  Some groups, like personal friendships or a local bridge club, start small and remain such.  Then there are those groups that maybe start small but intentionally seek an expanding path forward.  Representative groups of this type show up on ABC’s Shark Tank.  Finally, there are bureaucracies that start big and continue to expand. 

Indeed, groups are by nature collectivist solutions to social issues within a specified environment.  Informal groups maintain a tacit understanding among its members, an accepted protocol regarding its reason for forming and gathering.  By contrast, more formally constructed entities inform their social environment explicitly with a Statement of Purpose or Mission Statement.  Their public announcements will usually define their group’s system, how they intend to function, and what one should expect from their behavior. 

It always remains that one’s innate psychic energy dynamic is never and cannot be intentionally abandoned when one opts to join a group.  Self-delusion aside, it is ultimately beyond the personal ego’s ability to do so. 

Although the influence of dharma may be cognitively suppressed or ignored it remains inexhaustible, always indicating correct from incorrect behavior within an individual’s psyche.  And so, it remains always available to guide the evolution of the group’s ethos and personality throughout its life process too.

Additionally, the identical energy dynamic holds true for any size group, even abstract entities like contractual agreements created among nations.  Sure, size and intangibility can breed complexity to an operative system where the work is done, but the bedrock thermal dynamics of personality development remains the same regardless of magnitude.  Every group is but a derivative fractal of the individual’s innate psychic energy dynamic and is carried forth with every human creation.

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*See SCOTUS: Citizens United, 2010.

**Clinically, one might conclude that this is representative of dissociative identity disorder, a multiple personality dynamic one might observe with acutely dysfunctional individuals.  

First published January, 2023