Group Dynamics: The Shortcut to Change

Let’s face it - people are just plain bad at changing their own behaviour. Fortunately, there’s an easy and painless shortcut which lies in our strong urge to fit in.
 The concept is demonstrated beautifully in the ‘Lift Experiment’:



If you’re in a group of people, you never want to be the odd one out. So, without even realising it, you adopt similar behaviour to the other people in your group.
When you apply this concept to learning, that’s when the magic happens. You want to do what everyone else is doing in order to achieve a particular objective. You eventually find that you adopt similar behaviour to get you to where you want to be.

Take a group of people who have the same goal – playing guitar, for example; the process of learning is made much easier when there is a group of people around that you can bounce off of. If you’re struggling to get the correct shape for a chord, take a look around the room to check out what your classmates are doing with their hands. Eventually, you’ll pick up the same habit and get yourself further along the learning curve.

In many cases, you don’t even realise that it is happening – that the people around you are influencing your behaviour in such a way that helps you achieve your goal. Then, the next thing you know, your chords are ringing out loud and clear. Thanks to the group dynamic, you’re on your way to becoming better at changing your behaviour, learning new skills and improving your life overall.