"Undiscussables" are topics associated with threat or embarrassment that are avoided by groups, where that avoidance is also not discussed. Their deleterious effect on executive groups has been a point of discussion for several decades. More recently critical action learning (AL) has brought a welcome focus to power relations within AL…

We illustrate the idiographic/nomothetic debate by comparing 3 approaches to using daily self-report data on affect for predicting relationship quality and breakup. The 3 approaches included (a) the first day in the series of daily data; (b) the mean and variability of the daily series; and (c) parameters from dynamic factor analysis, a…

The Group Test of Openness (GTO) was shown to have a moderate degree of stability. Predictive validity was demonstrated through a 14-week high school course in counseling skills in which scores on the GTO increased. GTO focused on behavior within a group and had an objective method of scoring. (Author)

Extends control systems theory to analyze purposive collective behaviors, ranging from simple to complex, involving small and large groups. Suggests that complex collective phenomena can be explained as the repetition or combination of individual and collective sequences of action. Posits that control systems theory can be used to elucidate…

According to Fiedler's Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness, group performance is a function of the leader-situation interaction. A review of past validations has found several problems associated with the model. Meta-analytic techniques were applied to the Contingency Model in order to assess the validation evidence quantitatively. The…

Reports results of a study which tested the following model to predict group panic behavior: that panic reactions are characterized by the exercise of inappropriate leadership behaviors in situations of high stress. (PD)

The phenomenon of crowd behavior at sports events is examined in this paper. Previous treatments of why spectators enjoy watching sports events are examined, showing that these studies have largely ignored the potential role of intraaudience influence processes. A brief literature review notes the role of feedback between the communication event…

Presents study results examining social pressure within sexually homogenous groups. Explains that cohesiveness, based on common beliefs, was established in half of the sample while prevented in the remainder. Reports that groups were required to reach consensus after conflict was introduced. Concludes that low cohesion groups showed the greatest…

Several factors thought to influence the representativeness of behavioral assessment data were examined in an analogue study employing a multifactorial design. Systematic and unsystematic methods of observing group behavior were investigated using 18 male and 18 female observers. Additionally, valence properties of the observed behaviors were…

Video-taped samples of two help-oriented groups were rated for six leader and participant facilitating behaviors and therapeutic process (self-exploration). As manifested by leaders and participants, two help-oriented behaviors were significantly correlated. Four leader behaviors were positively correlated with participant self-exploration,…

Proposes a model of ethnic behavior that describes group behavior as constrained by the following aspects of social structure: demographic opportunity, economic opportunity, and cultural heritage. Tests the model by comparing the single ancestry rates of the following ethnic groups: Italian, Polish, Slovak, and Hungarian. (Author/BJV)

The degree of acquaintance among group members (friends or strangers) and the opportunity for group members to observe each other's actions (anonymous or non-anonymous) were manipulated in a 2 x 2 factorial design, to determine the amount of aversive stimulation that would be administered to a target person. When group members could not observe…

Three studies investigated the determination of social discrimination by the valence of stimuli that are allocated between groups. The studies were based on either the minimal group paradigm or a more reality-based laboratory intergroup setting, with stimulus valence, group status, and group size as factors and with pull scores on Tajfel matrices…

Groups exist in a time environment. The group develops, changes, may function for years, and eventually disbands. The theory of groups across time is in a different psychological domain than that of short-term groups. For example, in long-term groups changes in group membership are inevitable whereas in short-term groups these changes are rarely…

An examination of the impact that process instructions have on jury deliberations was conducted using ten juries of six members each. Five of the juries were given standard jury instructions, while the remaining five were given step-by-step instructions in the deliberation process designed especially for that trial. The results indicated that…