3. “it is impossible to understand human
behaviour without considering the
role that groups play in people’s lives”
(eg families, friendship groups,
‘cliques’, faith small groups etc)
Levine & Moreland

4. “As a sociological reality
the church reflects the political
intrigue, bureaucratic development,
social stratification, class conflicts
and boredom that occur in all
institutions...” (J Cobble)

5. Cohesion and
conflict
Cohesion
‘Conflict’

6. But is this really the complete
Cohesion and
conflict
Cohesion
‘Conflict’
But is this really the complete
continuum?

7. Cohesion and
conflict
‘Conflict’
Uniformity
Disunity
Cohesion

8. David Kipris: psychology of the powerful. They tend to:
1. devalue the performance of the
less powerful,
2. discount motives for good in actions by the less powerful,
3. instead claim credit for themselves as the chief influence for such actions,
3. view the less powerful as objects
of manipulation.

9. Original ‘Groupthink’ symptoms (Irving Janis)
Type I, group’s overestimation of itself, including
illusion of the group’s invulnerability
belief in its intrinsic morality
Type II, closed mindedness, including
stereotyping of out-groups
Type III, pressure toward uniformity, including
illusions of a unanimity in the group
direct pressure on dissenters

10. Key inputs from Christian theology
Our flawed natures
Community at the heart of reality
The priority of love over all gifts,
tendencies and powers
The necessity of transparency
to human flourishing
- ‘truth-speaking and truth-being’
The illusory nature of power

11. (Contributions are equally welcome from within a Christian theology
It has been said that we should fully
take account of the place of ‘human
motivation, moral values and beliefs’ in
trying to understand social interaction.
How far can we go along with this claim?
2. What practical measures might enable a group to find the balance between the extremes of ‘uniformity’ and ‘disunity’?
(Contributions are equally welcome
from within a Christian theology
perspective or from outside of it)