L Festinger
ABSTRACT
Abstract Book review of Social Pressures in Informal Groups, by L. S. Festinger, S. Schacter, & K. Back, (see record 1951-02994-000). This volume presents results of "a study of human factors in housing" from the Research Center for Group Dynamics, University of Michigan. Part I reports in nine chapters the research study of a housing community for married veteran students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for the purpose of determining the effect of housing arrangements upon friendship patterns, group formation, structure, and standards, and the process of communication. Part II contains two interesting and informative chapters, each of which was written by a practitioner in the field of housing describing the implications of the research for housing planning and practices. An appendix presents the researchers' rationale of the methods used in the field studies, viz., informants, participant and non-participant observers, informal and standardized interviews, sociometry, and field experimentation. The reviewer hopes that the investigators will continue to study face-to-face groups to develop our insights into such critical areas of human behavior. Their results thus far are quite promising and in this study already show signs of influencing the views of housing practitioners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)