Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice

Measuring shared team mental models: A meta-analysis.
Although shared team mental models are believed to be important to team functioning, substantial interstudy differences in the manner in which mental models are operationalized has impeded progress in this area. We use meta-analysis to cumulate 23 independent studies that have empirically examined shared mental models (SMMs) in relation to team process and performance and test three aspects of measurement as potential moderators: elicitation method, structure representation, and representation of emergence. Results indicate the way in which SMMs are measured and represented at the team level of analysis reveal meaningful distinctions in observed relationships. Specifically, shared mental model operationalization impacts the observed relationship between SMMs and team process; importantly, only methods that model the structure or organization of knowledge are predictive of process. Conversely, while the magnitude of the relationship differed across measurement method, SMMs were positively related to team performance regardless of the manner of operationalization. In summary, knowledge structure is predictive of team process, and both knowledge content and structure are predictive of team performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Rating group therapist interventions: The validation of the Group Psychotherapy Intervention Rating Scale.
The present study seeks to establish the validity of the Group Psychotherapy Intervention Rating Scale (GPIRS), an observer-rated measure of the quality of group leader interventions. Concurrent validity was tested by comparing GPIRS results to 2 group gold standard process measures, the Hill Interaction Matrix and the Group Climate Questionnaire. Significant correlations between leader intervention scores and group member perceptions of group climate, as well as verbal interaction scores, were found. In addition, results indicated correlations between interventions aimed to gain balance between confrontation and warmth and member-rated levels of cohesion. Results lend support for the concurrent validity of the GPIRS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Common ingroups and complex identities: Routes to reducing bias in multiple category contexts.
We tested the hypothesis that evaluative bias in common ingroup contexts versus crossed categorization contexts can be associated with two distinct underlying processes. We reasoned that in common ingroup contexts, self-categorization, but not perceived complexity, would be positively related to intergroup bias. In contrast, in crossed categorization contexts, perceived complexity, but not self-categorization, would be negatively related to intergroup bias. In two studies, and in line with predictions, we found that while self-categorization and intergroup bias were related in common ingroup contexts, this was not the case in crossed categorization contexts. Moreover, we found that perceived category complexity, and not self-categorization, predicted bias in crossed categorization contexts. We discuss the implications of these findings for models of social categorization and intergroup bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Threat and the majority identity.
This study grapples with the question of majority–minority relations in conflict-ridden societies. The ethnographic study analyzed data gathered in a dialogue course conducted at an Israeli university among Jewish and Palestinian students, all citizens of the State of Israel. The authors identified 4 different and interrelated components of threat as these were perceived by the Jews participating in the dialogue: a permanent existential threat, the realistic threat from Palestinians, the threat to Jewish hegemony in the State of Israel, and the threat to the moral worth of the Jews’ national identity. The authors describe each of these components, how they interrelate, and also the changes undergone by the Jewish participants in the dialogue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Does conflict shatter trust or does trust obliterate conflict? Revisiting the relationships between team diversity, conflict, and trust.
This article explores the interplay between trust and conflict as antecedents of team effectiveness. In the first cross-sectional study, two alternative path models are tested in a sample of 174 teams (897 participants) with the emergent states of task conflict, relationship conflict, and trust acting as mediators between team demographic diversity (gender and nationality) on the one hand and perceived team effectiveness on the other. In one model trust is considered as an antecedent for the two types of conflict, while in the other the two types of conflict precede the emergence of trust. Although the fit indices for the model in which trust is considered the antecedent of conflict were slightly better, both models fitted the data well. The interdependence of trust and conflict was further explored in a second longitudinal study (49 teams), and the results showed that trust emerging in the initial team interaction phases is a good predictor for the emergence of both task and relationship conflict in further stages of team development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The effects of cost, normative support, and issue importance on motivation to persuade in-group deviants.
Persuading in-group deviants to become normative may carry costs that outweigh the advantages of group consensus. This study investigates the effects of potential cost, normative support, and issue importance on group members’ efforts to change the views of in-group deviants (N = 115). In line with previous research into bystander intervention, the authors show that when costs are low, high levels of either importance or normative support are sufficient to increase persuasion action tendency. When costs are higher, higher levels of both issue importance and normative support are necessary to increase persuasion action tendency. In addition, content analysis of messages sent to in-group deviants show that high potential costs and low levels of issue importance reduce the proportion of messages sent that are persuasive. These results are discussed in terms of theories of approach/avoidance and social identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice - Vol 14, Iss 1