Digital Commons Network^™

Support Groups, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

When people experience traumas, crises, or catastrophes, when they encounter medical or interpersonal difficulties that they cannot cope with by themselves, or if they simply need to find a sympathetic audience who will listen to their problems, they often turn to support groups: groups of people who meet to exchange social support about a problem or situation that they all have experienced. Support groups, which are also known as self-help groups, exist for nearly every major medical, psychological, or stress-related problem. Each one is likely to be unique in some respects, but most such groups are practical in focus …

The Impact Of Blatant Stereotype Activation And Group Sex-Composition On Female Leaders, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stefanie K. Johnson, Susan Elaine Murphy, Kerry Hogue Skinnell

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The individual and combined impact of blatant stereotype activation and solo status or mixed-sex groups on the self-appraisals, performance, and anxiety of female leaders was examined across three laboratory studies. The first study utilized a two-condition, two-stage design in which female leaders were exposed to a blatant stereotype threat or control condition after which they completed a leadership task. In the second stage, the threatened leaders received a solo status manipulation (leading a group of men) while the control condition did not. In the second study a 2 (blatant threat, no blatant threat) by 2 (solo status, all-female group) fully …

Group Processes And Group Psychotherapy: Social Psychological Foundations Of Change In Therapeutic Groups, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Social psychology and clinical psychology share an interest in change. Rather than assuming that people are static and that psychological systems are immutable, social psychologists track the shifts in social attitudes, actions, values, and beliefs that result from individuals' everyday interactions in their social worlds. Similarly, clinical psychologists examine changes in adjustment, well-being, and dysfunction that are evidenced as people develop psychologically and physically, confront new life circumstances, or react effectively or less adaptively to daily life events.

Biography And The Social Cognition Of Leadership, George R. Goethals

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

In this chapter, we'll discuss why we have a penchant for the depiction of leadership through the stories of individual leaders and why that tendency poses serious challenges to understanding leadership. One of the key distinctions in this collection of essays is the one between leaders and leadership. Following James MacGregor Burns, Richard Couto has tried to focus scholars and practitioners on the dynamics of leadership rather than on the lives of leaders. It may well be a losing battle. We'll try to explain why.

Our discussion proceeds as follows. First, we will discuss the ways human wiring leads us …

Leadership And The More-Important-Than-Average Effect: Overestimation Of Group Goals And The Justification Of Unethical Behavior, Crystal L. Hoyt, Terry L. Price, Alyson E. Emrick

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research investigates the empirical assumptions behind the claim that leaders exaggerate the importance of their group’s goals more so than non-leaders and that they may use these beliefs to justify deviating from generally accepted moral requirements when doing so is necessary for goal achievement. We tested these biased thought processes across three studies. The results from these three studies established the more-important-than-average effect, both for real and illusory groups. Participants claimed that their group goals are more important than the goals of others, and this effect was stronger for leaders than for non-leading group members. In Study 3, …

Groups And Teams, Crystal L. Hoyt, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

To understand leaders and leadership, one must understand groups and their dynamics. This chapter describes group-centered leadership, leading change in groups, leaders in groups, decision-making and leadership and social influence and leadership.

Therapy Groups, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Therapy groups are designed to promote the health and adjustment of their members. Initially used when the demand for services outstripped available health care providers, therapists discovered that group approaches offered unique benefits over more individualistic therapies. Some of these benefits include a reduced sense of isolation and uniqueness, mutual support, exposure to positive models, and the opportunity to develop coping skills by interacting with others. Therapists now use groups to address a variety of psychological and physical maladies, and their methods are as varied as those used in individual approaches. Even though the idea of having people suffering from …

Group Processes, Donelson R. Forsyth, Jeni Burnette

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Social behavior is often group behavior. People are in many respects individuals seeking their personal, private objectives, yet they are also members of social collectives that bind members to one another. The tendency to join with others is perhaps the most important single characteristic of humans. The processes that take place within these groups influence, in fundamental ways, their members and society-at-large. Just as the dynamic processes that occur in groups--such as the exchange of information among members, leading and following, pressures put on members to adhere to the group's standards, shifts in friendship alliances, and conflict and collaboration-change the …

The Nature And Significance Of Groups, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

An understanding of group counseling requires an understanding of groups themselves, their basic nature and processes. Given that human beings are a social species and spend their lives in groups rather than alone, an individual-level analysis of adjustment, well-being, and treatment, with its focus on internal, psychological processes, should be supplemented by a group-level analysis. The defining features of a group are relationships linking a substantial number of members, boundaries, interdependence, structure, cohesion, and entitativity (perceived groupness): and groups with more of these features are more Influential than other forms of association, such as social networks. The chapter reviews a …

Groups And Teams, Crystal L. Hoyt, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

To understand leaders and leadership, one must understand groups and their dynamics. Leadership can occur across great distances, as when a leader influences followers who are distributed across differing contexts, but in many cases leadership occurs in an intact group that exists in a specific locale: Teams, boards, advisory councils, and classrooms arc all examples of groups that work toward shared goals with, in many cases, the help and guidance of a leader. Leadership can be considered a set of personality traits or a specific set of behaviors enacted by an individual, but an interpersonal, group-level conceptualization considers Ieadership to …

Delphi Therapy, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The Delphi technique is a structured forecasting and decision-making method that assesses and summarizes the individually held opinions and judgments of group members with little or no discussion or deliberation among the members. Named for the legendary Delphic oracle, this method involves surveying members repeatedly, with the results of each round of surveys informing the framing of the questions for subsequent rounds. The Delphi technique avoids some of the limitations of traditional group decision-making procedures and is particularly useful when the group members are so widely divided on issues that a face-to-face discussion will not be productive.

It's That Efa* Time Of Year (*Extreme Fan Addiction), Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

What an odd lot our ancestors must have been to let themselves get caught up in crazes like the 10th century dancing mania in Italy, or the alarming outbreak of biting mania in 15th century Germany, Italy, and Holland. Holland's 17th century tulipmania proved only economically painful, when wealthy families spent their savings buying and hoarding tulip bulbs, and were left in financial ruin when prices plummeted.

We are not so different from those long-gone dancers, biters, and tulipophiles, because a modern mania is about to descend upon us: March Madness. Sixty-four colleges and universities send their basketball teams into …

Group Dynamics, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

No abstract provided.

Socioemotional And Task Behavior, George R. Goethals

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

In problem-solving groups, individual members engage in different types of behavior, including task behavior, which focuses on the external problem to be addressed, and socioemotional behavior, which addresses the feelings that arise as a result of group interaction. This entry describes these two types of behavior and examines the leadership styles of group leaders who focus on each one.

A Unification Fable, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Not-so-long-ago in a not-so-far-away land lived three little pigs. These three little pigs grew up in the same neighborhood, attended the same schools, and shared the same passion: houses. The three were fascinated by the various types of structures inhabited by pigs the world over, and they while away many a happy hour puzzling over the nature and design of such dwellings. They could think of nothing more meaningful than dedicating their lives to the scientific study of houses and the ways they can be improved and repaired.

As they grew older, however, the pigs gradually grew apart in values, …

Personality And Social Psychology Connections Is In Development Stage, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

When will technology, in all its varied forms both complicated and simple, begin to give back some of the minutes, hours, and days that it has stolen from us? Slogging through emails, developing online teaching materials for courses, readying a manuscript for online submission, searching for information on the web, formatting a survey so that it prints nicely, and navigating through digital libraries and journal article repositories wastes more time than a Dean’s introductory remarks at a meeting of the full faculty, the paperwork required by a detailed-oriented IRB, or an eighth-year students’ dissertation defense.

Seeking to counter the trend …

Extraordinary Exaltation, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The Internet, with its listservs, web pages, and video-conferencing, provides us the opportunity to join together in a virtual space, but despite technology’s charms there is still nothing like that quaint once-a-year gathering of psychologists known as the Annual Meeting. Leave it to Émile (Durkheim, that is, and a true lover of groups if there ever was one) to describe the importance of a face-to-face ritualized gathering of members, for when all “are once come together, a sort of electricity is formed by their collecting which quickly transports them to an extraordinary degree of exaltation” (1912/1965, p. 262). Durkheim was …

Defining Deception As The "Waiver Of An Element", Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

When dealing with the public, and with Institution Review Boards (IRBs), the moral high ground is the place to be. Yet, personality researchers and social psychologists, because of their methods and interests, often find themselves down in a moral morass. Take deception research as a case in point. Social psychologists, because they study people’s spontaneous reactions, prefer to not fully inform participants about all aspects of the situation until after the data have been gathered. This desire to withhold information, although scientifically essential, is nonetheless inconsistent with key elements in the Nuremberg Code, the Belmont Code, and HHS 45 CFR …

The Power Of Groups, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Who can deny the power of groups? Although poets, social philosophers, and the other members of the intelligentsia overlook no occasion to bemoan the growing alienation of individuals from the small, cohesive interpersonal units that once linked them securely to society-at-large—families, neighborhoods, work teams, communities, and even the spontaneously formed groups like my street-corner altruists—those who study groups believe in the complexity and integrity of individuals’ interpersonal lives. People are in many respects individuals who seek their personal, private objectives, yet they are also members of larger social units that seek shared, collective outcomes. Our groups sustain us, and remind …

Self-Serving Bias, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

A self-serving bias is any cognitive or perceptual process that is distorted by the need to maintain and enhance self-esteem. When individuals reject the validity of negative feedback, focus on their strengths and achievements but overlook their faults and failures, or take more responsibility for their group’s work than they give to other members, they are protecting the ego from threat and injury. These cognitive and perceptual tendencies perpetuate illusions and error, but they also serve the self ’s need for esteem.

Ethics In Experimentation, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Experimentation in the social sciences, by its very nature, requires researchers to manipulate and control key aspects of the social setting so as to determine what effect, if any, these manipulations have on the people in that setting. Such studies, although unmatched in terms of their scientific yield, nonetheless raise questions of ethics: Do researchers have the moral right to conduct experiments on their fellow human beings? What practices are unacceptable and what procedures are allowable? Can standards be established to safeguard the rights of participants?

Deifying The Dead And Downtrodden: Sympathetic Figures As Inspirational Leaders, Scott T. Allison, George R. Goethals

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This chapter proposes that leaders often derive their most inspirational qualities from events or actions that transpire before and after, rather than during, their tenure as leaders. These events or actions engender sympathy, emotional support, and adoration for the leader. We identify three types of individuals whose effectiveness as leaders stem from actions that elicit sympathetic responses from others: underdog leaders who attract sympathy from their ability to overcome significant obstacles before they assume their leadership; deceased leaders who attract sympathy and whose deaths elicit reverence and inspiration long after they are gone; and martyrs who make the ultimate sacrifice …

Group Dynamics, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Group dynamics are the influential actions, processes and changes that take place in groups. Much of the world's work is accomplished by people working with others in groups, and the processes that take place within these groups--the continual vying for social status, the give-and-take collaboration between members, the pressure of the group on the atypical individual, and the eruption of conflict and discord that can shatter the group--significantly shape members' experiences as well as their accomplishments. It was the eminent social scientist Kurt Lewin (1951) who used the term 'group dynamics' to describe the powerful and complex social processes that …

Autokinetic Effect, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The autokinetic effect is an optical illusion. It occurs when a perceiver staring at a stationary pinpoint of light in an otherwise completely dark visual field believes that the light moves from its fixed position. This “self-motion” (auto-kinetic) is caused, in part, by the nearly imperceptible movements of the eye known as saccades. Ordinarily the visual system compensates for these naturally occurring motions of the eye, but when only a single light is visible with no frame of reference, the light appears to wander in unpredictable directions and at variable speeds. This illusion was first noted by astronomers when viewing …

The Purpose Of Our Efforts, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This year’s APA Convention in San Francisco was something of a homecoming for the division, for it was in that same city, some 18 years ago, that group psychology and group psychotherapy first took the stage as a newly founded division within APA. Only a few months earlier this fledgling coalition of dedicated supporters of group approaches had successfully petitioned APA for official divisional recognition. As that petition explained, it was time for psychologists to focus on groups and group-based approaches to adjustment, arguing that there “are two basic psychological approaches to human life and to mental health; one through …

Seeing Groups, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Sometimes I think that only a select few of us—members of Division 49, for example— really understand groups and group approaches to treatment. Last week in class a student, and a particularly bright one at that, looked puzzled when I spoke about group psychotherapy: Is that a method used to treat crazy groups, he asked? Later that same week I was meeting with a professor in the school of business and I mentioned group psychotherapy. He was equally bewildered. Is that a team-building intervention for poorly functioning groups, he suggested? Then, while reading the brand-new APA Dictionary of Psychology (2007) …

Attempting To Improve The Academic Performance Of Struggling College Students By Bolstering Their Self-Esteem: An Intervention That Backfired, Donelson R. Forsyth, Natalie K. Lawrence, Jeni L. Burnette, Roy F. Baumeister

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Theory and prior research suggest that (a) a positive sense of self–worth and (b) perceived control over one’s outcomes facilitate constructive responses to negative outcomes. We therefore predicted that encouraging students to maintain their sense of self–worth and/or construe their academic outcomes as controllable would promote achievement. In a field experiment, low–performing students in a psychology class were randomly assigned to receive, each week, review questions, review questions plus self–esteem bolstering, or review questions plus exhortations to assume responsibility and control. Contrary to predictions, the D and F students got worse as a result of self–esteem bolstering and students in …

Group Dynamics, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Group dynamics are the influential actions, processes, and changes that take place in groups. Individuals often seek personal objectives independently of others, but across a wide range of settings and situations, they join with others in groups. The processes that take place within these groups--such as pressures to conform, the development of norms and roles, differentiation of leaders from followers, collective goal-strivings, and conflict-substantially influence members' emotions, actions, and thoughts. Kurt Lewin, widely recognized as the founding theorist of the field, used the term group dynamics to describe these group processes, as well as the scientific discipline devoted to their …

Exploring Group Behavior, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

When I migrated from the world of constructions and took a position as a college professor and social psychologist, I found myself on the right side of the "good work if you can get it" divide. Granted, professoring is still work. There are politics of the office, bosses who make demands, and duties that must be fulfilled. Nor is it a glamorous occupation, as Hollywood's depictions of Indiana Jones-like professorial types would suggest. But depending on one's goals and perspectives, it is a personally fulfilling pursuit. It is an elite profession that requires special training and skill, and for much …

Effective Group Meetings And Decision Making, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Single individuals do much to advance the cause of peace, but much of the work - the decisions, advocacy, planning, and organizing - is handled by groups. In groups we pool our knowledge and abilities, give each other feedback, and tackle problems too overwhelming to face alone. Group members give us emotional and social support and can stimulate us to become more creative, insightful, and committed to our goals. When we work with others who share our values and goals, we often come to understand ourselves, and our objectives, more clearly.

Not every group, however, realizes these positive consequences. Often …