At school, pupils often cooperate on common projects and must coordinate their different individual actions. However, grades are pervasively used even in cooperative situations, which make the pupils' differences in achievement and their relative rank salient and may reduce their inclination to work constructively with others. Thus, we…

Discusses selection and planning of group activities based on stages of group development. Describes typical group processes and behaviors encountered at the beginning, middle, and end of an extended group experience. Outlines two beginning, two middle, and one ending activity, including basic parameters and brief instructions. (SV)

Study results indicate that individuals distinctly prefer one kind of arrangement over other alternatives and that group members interact in such a way that identifiable differences among participant groups are noticeable. (Author)

The stimulus value of group boundaries was investigated in a field experiment. It was hypothesized that the size of a group and the status of its members would reduce the permeability of a boundary around an interacting group. Two or 4 interacting people of high or low status interrupted the traffic flow in a university hallway. Results indicate…

College students (N=419) completed the Self-Disclosure Situations Survey measuring the social-situational determinants of self-disclosure. Studied four research questions about the effects of setting and gender on self-disclosure. Research indicated that males self-disclose more in dyads than in small groups and females self-disclose more in…

Presents one teacher's tongue-in-check suggestions for how to behave on an accrediting team. (JD)

Frustration has been primarily investigated in relation to aggressive behaviors, but may elicit other behaviors depending on the responses available to the individual. To test the effects of task frustration and task success on subsequent group behavior, college women (N=80) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: task success, task…

The present study investigated how type of interaction between groups affects intergroup hostility and how this intergroup hostility may be reduced. In the first phase of the study groups were led to believe that they were either competing, cooperating, or having no interaction with a second group. The results indicated that competition led to the…

The purpose of this essay is to propose a different explanation of collective behavior and also to hypothesize how communication functions in this process. Using the experimental finding known as the "risky shift," this essay (1) summarizes the history of the risky shift, (2) presents two different theories which have been proposed to…

Findings suggest that extroverts are more likely to be susceptible to behavioral contagion, i.e., spontaneous imitation of another's behavior, than introverts. (Author)

Provides an insight into the group process of therapy and compares and contrasts the T-group process with therapy group process. The here-and-now orientation was present in T-group and therapy-group interaction. Greater relational conflict was present in the T-group. Members of the therapy group were much more defensive than members of the…

Focusing on a group of drug users, this article examines behavioral and attitudinal coping strategies in paranoia and illustrates how the management of paranoia may create elaborate interaction rituals which serve both to "protect" group participants and to reinforce a collective orientation among them. (Author/EB)

The purpose of this book is to present information about communicating in terms of "if-then" propositions that are based on scientific study. The book consists of two sections--Communication Behavior and Communication Experiments. The chapters in the first section of this book consider relationships, messages, information diffusion, and achieving…

Examines conditions which predipose group members to seek redress for a perceived injustice by forming an alliance against a group leader. Predicts that: (1) coalition attempts will be more frequent in unfair cases than in fair ones; (2) members of a revolutionary coalition will attempt to restore equity under specified conditions; and (3)…

Leadership style, group composition, and group development are simultaneously quantified through the use of the matrix. It represents an attempt to objectify the art of group therapy. Comment by Richard C. Rank follows. (Author)