Many important real-world decision-making problems involve group interactions among individuals with purely informational interactions. Such situations arise for example in jury deliberations, expert committees, medical diagnoses, etc. We model the purely informational interactions of group members, where they receive private information and act…

A new theory of interaction within small groups posits that group members initiate actions when tension mounts between the affective meanings of their situational identities and impressions produced by recent events. Actors choose partners and behaviors so as to reduce the tensions. A computer model based on this theory, incorporating reciprocal…

The purpose of the author's contribution to this colloquy was to spark conversation on the theoretical nature of communication processes and the evidentiary requirements for testing their relationship to group outcomes. Co-discussants have raised important issues concerning the philosophical basis of the socioegocentric model (SM) and dual-level…

This article integrates the literature on group interaction process analysis and group learning, providing a framework for understanding how patterns of interaction develop. The model proposes how adaptive, generative, and transformative learning processes evolve and vary in their functionality. Environmental triggers for learning, the group's…

Identifies components of group process and describes leader functions. Discusses personal elements, focus of interaction/psychological distance, group development, content, quality of interaction, and self-reflective/meaning attribution, illustrated by a case study of a group of persons (N=5) arrested for drunk driving. (JAC)

A theory of group interaction with a focus on the trajectories of relevant variables as they change over time is developed in this paper. The four major components of the group interaction process (communication, conflict, involvement, and centralization) are presented and conceptually defined, and the nature of their interdependence is discussed.…

This review examines published research on small-group development done in the last ten years that would constitute an empirical test of Tuckman's hypothesis that groups go through the stages of "forming,""storming,""norming," and "performing." A fifth stage, "adjourning," was added to the…

This study uses two methods of analysis to examine the degree to which items within the cells of the Hill Interaction Matrix correlate. It is found that the table of specifications does not hold up. But the author recommends caution in interpreting this finding. (Author/BP)

A new paradigm for computer-supported cooperative work and a research agenda for developing and testing this paradigm are proposed. The book outlines a comprehensive model of collaboration that integrates the cognitive/conceptual and social dynamics of groups. The challenge faced by all groups engaged in intellectual work is to divide the task so…

This article presents a strategy for an idea exchange system appropriate to many situations in which a group--teachers, colleagues, staff members--needs to collect individual ideas and reach group agreement. This model, a Nominal Group Technique, is appropriate for student groups as well. (Author)

Presents a model of interaction and considers the implications of part of that model for intervention processes in T-group training. (Author)

The prototype verbal interaction recording technique described is used for studying individuals in small groups. A methodology for recording verbal interaction is developed in an effort to create a system for analyzing interpersonal and social forces in operation within groups. (SM)

Presents the Grid for Processing Experiences and Events in Group Work so as to broaden the repertoire of group work leaders as they help members derive personal meaning from group experiences. Focuses on grid dimensions, levels of interaction, using the grid, application during a session, and eliciting sharing and discussion. (RJM)

The purposes of this book are to offer the outlines of a reciprocal-interactionist view of communication and education, to show some of its applications and implications, and to stimulate questions for exploration of the subject. Topics discussed in the seven chapters of the book are (1) the nature of interactions, (2) communication in reciprocal…