Investigated the relationship of group cohesiveness to empathy, self-disclosure, acceptance, and trust, and compared three different groups (personal growth, driving under the influence, psychotherapy), with a total of 65 subjects, on measures of cohesiveness. Found all factors correlated significantly with cohesiveness and with one another.…

Examines proposition that covert roles within a group are assigned to individual group members based on their propensity to verbally or nonverbally express certain patterns of unwanted, disowned, and projected emotions that are experienced as threatening by other members. Focuses on articulating a model, describing a method, and presenting…

Demonstrates the utility to group process facilitators of the Steinzor Effect, which states that within leaderless groups seated in circles, speakers are most apt to get responses from persons seated opposite or nearly opposite them, and least likely to get responses from persons seated alongside or nearly alongside. (Author)

Argues that recited stories provide rich information about organizations, groups, cultures, and reciter. Suggests method for analyzing oral histories and reanalyzes organizational stories from "Administrative Science Quarterly" and versions of the Lewin story about origins of T Groups using this new technique. Suggests possible…

Examined the relationship between group processes and group performance and cohesion in task and social groups using college students (N=160) as subjects. Found results supported the conceptual distinction between cohesion and performance and the importance of processes dealing with both the task and group maintenance. (Author/ABL)

Describes group psychotherapy at an inpatient, psychiatric hospital serving priests, nuns, and religious brothers. Discusses formation of and differences among four groups: a low-level group for sisters; an interactional group for sisters; a high-level, Gestalt-oriented group for sisters; and an interactional group for priests and brothers. (ABL)

Used simulation group approach in teaching social work students (N=6) technical and interpersonal skills. Results showed students found their interpersonal skills complementary to goals and dynamics of situations. Also observed students found learning of technical skills challenging in the context of a simulation group. (ABL)

Examined relationship among amount of conflict experienced, the style of its management, individual satisfaction, and decision quality of small, task-oriented groups using 129 college student subjects in 24 groups. Data suggest a curvilinear relationship between the number of conflict episodes experienced by group members and the subsequent…

The effects of different group processes on team performance is examined using a formative evaluation. A taxonomy of six different decision-making and leadership styles is developed. Cohesion was found to be a significant factor in explaining high performance. (Author/BL)

Tests the interactive effects of status of the offender and severity of a deviant act on the assessment of penalties for socially prescribed behavior in volunteers (N=24) assigning punishment. Results revealed a tendency for high-status offenders to receive more lenient treatment than their low-status counterparts. (Author/LLL)

Time-limited and time-extended groups studied appeared to be similar in stage development with abnormalities in process accounted for by the amount of time the groups have continuously met. Support was given to the concept of stages as a series of cyclical movements characterized by clusterings of related behaviors. (Author)

Varied composition of three-man military teams (N=64) by assigning members according to team composition in all possible combinations of ability and motivation. Found both ability and motivation had an additive effect on crew performance, thus leading to conclusion that when teams perform highly interdependent tasks, performance is apparently…

Assessed curative factors among therapy groups of offenders experiencing differentially restrictive incarceration from probation through minimum security and maximum security to a special segregation unit for behaviorally problematic prisoners. Found wide differences between the curative factors that participants found most helpful in therapy…

Eight "myths" about small group processes and outcomes are presented and matched against research and practice. Conclusions are drawn concerning benefits of group experience, group composition, leader impact, role of structural exercises, function of the "here-and-now," self-disclosure and feedback, understanding group processes, and the long-term…

Examined whether gender composition and task structure affect communicative behavior in small groups. Groups with different numbers of men and women were given a highly structured assignment and a human relations case study. Interaction process analysis supported the hypothesis only for dominance acts of giving suggestions. (BH)