| This qualitative study uses concepts related to dynamics of complex systems to analyze an exercise that builds upon a long tradition of classic social psychology experiments. It assumes a multilevel model of human behavior, in which individuals are nested within groups, which are themselves nested within a larger multi-group system. Milgram's obedience experiments and Asch's conformity experiments explored an individual level of analysis. The Robbers Cave experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment explored a group level of analysis. This pilot study explores a third level that both transcends and includes these other levels: the complex system.; The field of complex systems crosses the traditional boundaries of disciplines and highlights a set of governing dynamics at work in fields as diverse as cell biology, economics, and neural networks. For the purposes of this pilot study, I review the complex systems literature related to the concepts of interdependence, self-organization, pattern formation, development, and complexity.; The pilot study focuses on an exercise that is part of a residential youth leadership program run by a national non-profit. In the exercise, adolescent participants are separated into seven or eight groups and told not to talk to or make eye contact with other groups. Over the course of several hours, participants begin challenging the rules, and this system of multiple groups transforms towards greater interconnection and interdependence. By including observation of three of these exercises, the research allows for cross case analysis of recurrent patterns.; The pilot study provides an opportunity to empirically explore the process by which a complex, multi-group social systems transforms from static segregation to dynamic interconnection. Informed by the complex systems literature, this research examines how the concepts of interdependence, self-organization, pattern formation, development, and complexity explain events in these simulated social systems. |
