Preface

Advances in Group Processes publishes theoretical analyses, reviews, and theory based empirical chapters on group phenomena. The series adopts a broad conception of “group processes.” This includes work on groups ranging from the very small to the very large, and on classic and contemporary topics such as status, power, trust, justice, social influence, identity, decision-making, intergroup relations, and social networks. Previous contributors have included scholars from diverse fields including sociology, psychology, political science, economics, business, philosophy, computer science, mathematics, and organizational behavior.

The volume opens with a fresh take on Jim House’s famous “three faces” of social psychology article. Jane D. McLeod, Tim Hallett, and Kathryn J. Lively propose a new framework from the social structure and personality face of social psychology in “Beyond Three Faces: Toward an Integrated Social Psychology of Inequality.” This analysis focuses on the micro-to-macro dimensions of social inequality in groups. The approach connects structural and cultural dimensions systems, local contexts and the lived experiences of individuals. Overall, the chapter should help to promote integration and cross-fertilization across the diverse traditions of social psychology.

The next three chapters address aspects of networks and structures in producing activity and influence in groups. The first chapter is “Sequence-Network Analysis: A New Framework for Studying Action in Groups” by Benjamin Cornwell and Kate Watkins. These authors examine the daily activity patterns of both employed and unemployed people. Using over 13,000 24-hour time diaries from the 2010–2013 American Time Use Survey, the authors find that employed and unemployed people participate in significantly different types of activities, and that unemployed individuals engage in much less synchronized behavior. An important methodological advancement of this work is that it uses network-analytic methods to visualize behavior over time. Next, Kimberly B. Rogers examines three complementary theories in “Expectation States, Social Influence, and Affect Control: Opinion and Sentiment Change through Social Interaction.” This chapter uses Expectation States Theory, Affect Control Theory, and Social Influence Network Theory to examine opinion change that is driven by affective impressions and performance expectations. Rogers offers new experimental evidence to bear on hypotheses at the intersection of these theories. An important aspect of this paper is that it examines how behavioral interchange patterns (BIPs) drive opinion change in a novel and creative way. Using these theories together Rogers shows that group members’ opinions were pulled toward the group leader’s opinion irrespective of BIPS. This work adds to the growing body of work that seeks to integrate fundamental theories of group processes. Also, integrating research across normally distinct areas Ko Kuwabara suggests new insights regarding the connection between power and status in “How Does Status Affect Power Use? New Perspectives from Social Psychology.” This chapter examines three variables that might moderate the effect of status on the use of power: the legitimacy of status, achieved versus ascribed status, and the presence of an individualistic versus collectivist culture. Overall, the chapter sheds light on the often contingent connection between power and status will be of interest to sociologists and those in organizational psychology.

The remaining chapters in this volume all use facets of social psychology to explore problems and processes common to modern organizations. Richard L. Moreland explores job success in “Recruiting Source Effects: A Social Psychological Analysis.” Specifically, Moreland reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on recruiting sources – that is, when a current employee sponsors a new recruit in the workplace. Traditionally, the two most popular notions regarding the benefits of sponsorship are that (i) new employees have more realistic job expectations and that (ii) sponsored employees are of higher quality. Moreland offers a third explanation − that sponsorship brings with it social pressures to perform such as attempts to repay the sponsor. This is a highly creative social psychological approach to the problem that will certainly inspire new research in social psychology and organizations. Next, David Dunning provides a selective review of theory and research regarding how individuals judge human capital in “On Identifying Human Capital: Flawed Knowledge Leads to Faulty Judgments of Expertise by Individuals and Groups.” The chapter focuses on theory and research surrounding the “Dunning-Kruger” effect, that is, the tendency for incompetent people to not recognize their own incompetence. Dunning applies this to the problem of evaluations in organizations and finds that because evaluators are often flawed they fail to recognize the brilliance of others and their superior ideas. This chapter uses basic social psychological principles to analyze a problem faced by virtually all organizations.

Michael A. Hogg presents a new theory of leadership in “Constructive Leadership across Groups: How Leaders Can Combat Prejudice and Conflict between Subgroups.” The chapter summarizes the social psychological research related to reducing intergroup conflict. Hogg then offers a new theory that shows leaders how to reconstruct a common social identity and reduce prejudice and conflict between groups. The result is a highly creative and novel approach to conflict resolution that is grounded firmly in the known principles of social identity theory. This chapter should especially interest anyone who is faced with warring factions − such as any department head, chair, or dean. Finally, the volume closes with “Collaboration among Highly Autonomous Professionals: Costs, Benefits, and Future Research Directions” by Heidi K. Gardner and Melissa Valentine. This chapter explores the tendency to collaborate among powerful and highly autonomous peers. Whereas traditionally teamwork offers many benefits, Gardner and Valentine show that this is not necessarily the case in these sorts of collaborations. Using qualitative data from three professional service firms they find that often times collaborative efforts fail or are never attempted. This chapter offers an emergent theory of the costs and benefits of collaboration that should be of broad appeal to social and organizational scholars alike.