Group dynamics: theory, research, and applications

Lord of the Flies and Group Dynamics

In the movie Lord of the Flies, a group of very young and adolescent boys are forced to fend for themselves without adult supervision after becoming stranded on an island. The various reactions depicted in the movie highlight the destructive effects an intense group dynamics can have on individual psychology and behavior.

In one of the early study of child psychoanalysis, Melanie Klein (1984) proposed that even infants have an innate aggression, and live psychic lives dominated by sadistic fantasies. However, as they grow up, most children move beyond this "paranoid-schizoid position" into a "depressive position." According to her, the paranoid-schizoid and the depressive positions fight for dominance throughout an individual's lives.

In the depressive position, however, a person learns how to work with a group. In a well-ordered group, Klein further theorized, individuals who have moved into the depressive state learn how to tolerate and value differences between the other members (Klein 1975).

Klein's writings present a useful framework to examine the disturbing events depicted in Lord of the Flies. In the first few days of their confinement in the island, the boys are clearly in the "depressive position" and quickly move to establish order. The older children - Ralph, Piggy, Jack - take several steps to ensure a democratic rule, including the use of the conch shell. They determine the tasks needed for their survival, such as gathering food, building a fire and constructing shelter. They even make provisions to take care of the "littluns." The boys are confident that their ordered society will remain intact, until rescue arrives.

However, in the absence of an adult authority, this island utopia soon collapses. Led by Jack, a group of boys challenge Ralph and Piggy's rules. The camp splits into two - with Jack's group representing the paranoid-schizoid state and Ralph and Piggy's increasingly smaller group clinging to the depressive position.

Klein theorized that though most people grow into the depressive state as they mature, there is always the danger of regressing back into the paranoid-schizoid state. This is because aggression is innate in all human beings, stronger than most artificial social rules (Klein 1975). Jack's group illustrates this concept as they become more willing to commit acts of intensifying cruelty. Towards the end of the movie, they are able to kill Piggy without remorse, and turn to hunting Ralph with the intent to kill. Ralph is only saved by the timely arrival of an authority figure who is there to reinstate the social order.

In Lord of the Flies, the pull towards aggression is further intensified by the lure of the group. One by one, the members of Ralph's group abandon the orderly society (depressive state) for Jack's band of hunters. Even Ralph himself, the movie's epitome of maturity, feels the twin lure of his own innate aggression and the temptation to abandon his responsibilities, such as keeping a fire going and building shelters. Instead, he could join Jack's band, leaving a life free from worries or consequences, as they take out their aggressions by hunting wild boar.