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Statistical observations show that children under five years of age associate in groups of two to three for periods of from ten to forty minutes. A definite change is noticed in the size and stability of groups in the age between five and seven, when four to ten children can be associated for one to three hours. After age seven, the spontaneous interest in group formation seems to come to a standstill, and even decreases slightly, until the peak of group development is reached in pre-adolescence and adolescence. According to Thrasher, 51% of youth between eleven and seventeen; and according to Bühler, 67% of boys and 59% of girls between ten and fifteen, belong to groups. Although in young children the sex difference seems unimportant in this connection, it is observed that in adolescent boys and girls varying reactions occur in and to groups.1
Most observers take it for granted that the main purpose of the group is educational: it makes the child sociable. Ideas as to what constitutes sociability vary. Ronald Lippitt,2 in his study of the effects of authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire leadership on the development of groups, finds that the democratic one offers optimal development of initiative and friendliness among the group members; the laissez-faire groups show the greatest development of knowledge; and the authoritarian leadership develops dependence and obedience toward the leader at the expense of intra-group relationships.