PERCEIVED THREAT, COHESION, AND GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING IN INTERGROUP CONFLICT

This study examined the impact of perceived threat and cohesion on the ability of groups to solve problems in a situation of social conflict. The self‐reports and behaviors of 31 groups of college males were studied within a comprehensive, strategic simulation of intergroup conflict. The simulation was based on both a value conflict and an economic competition over scarce resources. A coding scheme for group problem solving was created based in part on Janis' seven symptoms of groupthink. Change scores were calculated over different points in time to assess the relationships among perceived threat, group cohesion, and dysfunctional group problem solving. Large increases in perceived threat were significantly related to decrements in problem‐solving effectiveness regardless of whether cohesion was stable or increased. Groups who reported high and increasing levels of cohesion experienced a decrement in problem solving regardless of the increase in perceived threat, while groups who showed small changes in ...

[1]  P. Grant,et al.  The Intergroup Conflict Simulation , 1990 .

[2]  P. Grant,et al.  The Comparative Utility of Third Party Consultation and Mediation Within a Complex Simulation of Intergroup Conflict , 1993 .

[3]  Christopher P. Neck,et al.  Group Decision Fiascoes Continue: Space Shuttle Challenger and a Revised Groupthink Framework , 1991 .

[4]  J. Lanzetta,et al.  Some effects of situational threat on group behavior. , 1954, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[5]  John R. Montanari,et al.  An Empirical Investigation of the Groupthink Phenomenon , 1986 .

[6]  Paul R. Bernthal,et al.  Cohesiveness without Groupthink , 1993 .

[7]  H. P. Sims,et al.  The Potential for "Groupthink" in Autonomous Work Groups , 1982 .

[8]  B. Steinzor,et al.  The Development and Evaluation of a Measure of Social Interaction , 1949 .

[9]  Paul 't Hart,et al.  Irving L. Janis' victims of groupthink , 1991 .

[10]  A. Pratkanis,et al.  Threat, Cohesion, and Group Effectiveness: Testing a Social Identity Maintenance Perspective on Groupthink , 1992 .

[11]  Ramon J. Aldag,et al.  Beyond fiasco: A reappraisal of the groupthink phenomenon and a new model of group decision processes. , 1993 .

[12]  J. Renner,et al.  Effects of Stress on Group versus Individual Problem Solving , 1972, Psychological reports.

[13]  ETHNOCENTRISM, GROUP COHESION, AND CONSTITUENT PRESSURE ON NEGOTIATORS IN INTERGROUP CONFLICT , 1993 .

[14]  Won-Woo Park,et al.  A Review of research on Groupthink , 1990 .

[15]  J. Lanzetta,et al.  Group Behavior Under Stress , 1955 .

[16]  P. Grant,et al.  The development and testing of a strategic simulation of intergroup conflict , 1990 .

[17]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  Group Cohesiveness and Quality of Decision Making , 1994 .

[18]  Matie L. Flowers.  A laboratory test of some implications of Janis's groupthink hypothesis. , 1977 .