Blog Post #1

Despite my distaste for Survivor there are many concepts from the show that are helpful of understanding the textbook in an active way. Because the show has just begun its season, Chapter 2 or group development holds most of the concepts that were shown throughout the episodes. Some of the strongest aspects from the chapter that were shown was forming, storming and group goals.

When everyone was introduced to one another, everyone had their best face on, they all seemed happy and friendly towards each other. During this forming stage they try to feel out how every individual is to see if it’s more beneficial to befriend them or not. For example, when Jeremy wins the competition that he was forced to compete with his wife, upon his arrival back his whole team recognized him as a key player and hoped to befriend him as a result of his victory.

Another aspect that was seen was the storming stage. The biggest example was team member Dale. Despite his age he proved himself worthy by sacrificing his vision for the good of the team. Luckily for him he used the prior tension to his advantage. As a result of his action he was seen as a much more powerful teammate then thought previously. As stated in the book, in this stage members try to establish their role of either dominance or acceptance in the group. By showing that he was willing to do whatever it takes he was no longer seen as an outsider, but rather a valuable aspect to the group. On the reverse in the second episode Nadiya got voted off, most likely the cause was that she couldn’t get past the encounter phase as a newcomer.

As they all begun their challenges and started to split apart from their loved ones, most of the players began to establish their roles and goals within their teams.  Despite them all sharing the goal of winning, they are beginning to form goals as a group. Although they seem to all get along in front of all of the members, once they see that Jeremy is alone they all display their hidden agenda to form an alliance to benefit themselves rather than the group as a whole.