Have a number of characteristics Dimbleby and Burton:  4 Levels of companionship Close Other Associate Acquaintance Arglye There are a number of factors involved in becoming Full Article

Primary groups – face to face Secondary groups – larger and still with face to face contact but not as much as primary groups Naturally Occurring – Similar interests Created – Full Article

There are four stages to group formation according to Tuckman.  Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Pfeiffer and Ballew carried out a study on Positive Group Norms Who had a hierarchy of Full Article