Groups help members cope with minor and major life crises by providing them with emotional and tangible resources. Group members compliment and encourage one another, express their friendship for others, and listen to others' problems. They give directions, offer advice, and make suggestions about how to solve a particular problem. They also offer tangible assistance, as when one member lends another member money. Thus grups provide members with the means to increase stability or decrease anxiety.
Groups are often the arena for the exercise and application of social power and influence.
Lone individuals may be free to make their own choices without regards to others, but they cannot influence other people's choices and actions. Group membership makes influence possible, for individuals must often alter their behaviors in response to the pressures and demands of other group members. Groups also offer individual the means to influence wider numbers of individuals, for groups influence other groups, communities, and larger social aggregates. A person who is powerful must be embedded in a network of groups and interpersonal relations. Groups provide members with opportunities to increase their creativity, refine their ideas, and improve themselves.