homeTeaching Social Psychology


Topic: Group Influence

= new link as of March 1, 2008


Serge Moscovici site - Sylvain Delouvée helped create a new website about Serge Moscovici. Most of it is in French, but there are a few documents and videos in English. The site will grow gradually, adding more content. Sylvain says that comments are welcome. [added 11/17/07]

"Crowd clout" - Interesting look at a relatively new phenomenon in which the Internet permits large groups of people to come together for a cause or a purpose -- the primary focus of this selection is on "buying together." CROWD CLOUT: “Online grouping of citizens/consumers for a specific cause, be it political, civic or commercial, aimed at everything from bringing down politicians to forcing suppliers to fork over discounts.” [added 7/8/07]

"Contagious Behavior" - a lot of good articles in the most recent APS Observer including this cover article [added 7/6/06]

Don Forsyth's group dynamic pages - A few years back I pointed you to Don Forsyth's excellent resources available online. I am pointing you to them again because 1) they are still excellent! and 2) they have moved with Don to his new address at the University of Richmond. [added 1/15/06]

Cyberball! - Kipling Williams offers downloads of Cyberball, "a virtual ball-toss game that can be used for research on ostracism, social exclusion, or rejection." Could also possibly be used for lab activities. [added 1/8/06]

Most desirable careers - The career most Americans encourage their children to pursue is to "be a doctor" according to this recent poll. Interestingly, "20 percent of Americans recommend that young women become physicians, while 17 percent suggest medicine as a career for young men." [added 9/20/05]

"Changing America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-being by Race and Hispanic Origin" - "This chart book documents current differences in well-being by race and Hispanic origin and describes how such differences have evolved over the past several decades. The book is designed to further one of the goals of the President's Initiative on Race: To educate Americans about the facts surrounding the issue of race in America." [added 7/16/03]

Timeline of Groups Research - 1890 to 1960 [added 3/6/02]

"The Seven Sins of Deadly Meetings" - article by Eric Matson [added 3/6/02]

Studying Groups: SYMLOG Questionnaires - developed by David Heise and adapted from Robert Bales' SYMLOG Case Study Kit, these online
questionnaires can be used to "measure the behavior of group members whom you have observed, and also your perceptions of the way you behave in various settings, and your subjective attitudes about your own behavior" - data can be entered online and a graph of results can be produced online as well. [added 3/6/02]

 

Case Studies

The Cuban Missile Crisis - Declassified documents, audio clips, chronology, analysis and more from an exhibit "The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: The 40th Anniversary" from the National Security Archive at George Washington University [added 12/1/04]

The Andes Survivors - description and resources related to true story of airplane survivors - good for the study of many group processes [added 3/6/02]

Failed Everest Expedition - Don Forsyth has pulled together a few resources that tell this 1996 story captured in the book Into Thin Air [added 3/6/02]

The Jonestown Massacre

"Jonestown" - detailed account in chapters from Court TV's Crime Library [added 3/15/05]

Timeline - from Jim Jones' birth to day of massacre [added 3/19/04]

Multiple resources on the massacre - This site from NPR provides audio of stories about the event, an interview with a survivor, images of the massacre, review of the events and more. [added 3/19/04]

Multiple resources on the massacre from the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University - The Department has created a website entitled, “Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple," which provides a 25th anniversary review, personal reflections, tape transcripts and more. [added 3/19/04]

The Jonestown Massacre - More resources related to Jonestown [added 3/6/02]

Deindividuation

Detailed description of phenomenon - by Tom Postmes [added 3/6/02]

Rape accounts from Woodstock '99 [added 3/6/02]

 

Group Decision-making

new "Is a team different from the sum of its parts?" - This research examines whether groups or individuals are more risky in mutual fund management using "real business data." [added 4/13/08]

Group decision making: Editing Wikipedia - interesting article that starts out with a different focus, but primarily examines how entities such as Wikipedia evolve through group editing [added 12/11/07]

 

Group Performance

 

Improving team success - interesting article describing a review of research on what makes for successful collaborations [added 8/05/07]

"Three perspectives on team learning" - a research paper, "Three perspectives on team learning: Outcome improvement, task mastery, and group process," from the Harvard Business School [added 12/30/06]

"Groups perform better than the best individuals at solving complex problems" - press release and article [added 7/6/06]

Center for Collaborative Organizations (formerly the Center for the Study of Work Teams) - articles, research projects and links on work teams

 

Groupthink

Groupthink explanation and examples [added 11/17/07]

Groupthink resources - a few groupthink resources including a PowerPoint presentation on the topic [added 12/30/06]

Groupthink framework - graphical depiction of theoretical framework of groupthink

 

Group Polarization

Group polarization in today's climate - "The polarization of extremes" is an interesting essay arguing that polarization is even greater now because it is even easier to seek out similar views and ignore disconfirming views. [added 3/23/08]

 

Social Facilitation

Social facilitation simulation - explanation an interactive simulation of social facilitation

"The Dynamogenic Factors in Pacemaking and Competition" - classic article by Norman Triplett on bicycle racing and social facilitation (1897)

Cults

Heaven's Gate cult - a follow-up story on this famous cult [added 8/05/07]

Heaven's Gate

Cult Controversies - resources from the Washington Post describing various controversial cults since the 1950s [added 12/1/06]

F.A.C.T.Net.org - F.A.C.T.Net (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network) "focuses on protecting freedom of mind from harms caused by all forms of mind control and unethical influence" - lots of information and resources on cults, scientology and attempts at mind control [added 12/06/02]

"Cult Status" - very interesting first-person account of someone who joined a cult-like group [added 12/2/02]

Cult group controversies - extensive resources on "brainwashing" and other aspects of cults - from the Religious Movements Page [added 3/6/02]

Cults and sects - variety of resources - from About.com guide on alternative religions [added 3/6/02]

"A social psychological critique of "brainwashing" claims about recruitment to new religions" - article by James T. Richardson - from J. Hadden and D. Bromley, eds. (1993), The Handbook of Cults and Sects in America. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Inc., pp. 75-97. [added 3/6/02]

Cults and psychological manipulation -- site from American Family Foundation, "a nonprofit, tax-exempt research center and educational organization founded in 1979. AFF's mission is to study psychological manipulation and cultic groups, to educate the public and professionals, and to assist those who have been adversely affected by a cult-related experience." Includes essays, study guides, critical thinking resources and extensive links.

Transcendental Meditation - a critical look from trancenet.org

hometop

 

Resources for the Teaching of Social Psychology is a part of the CROW Project, Course Resources on the Web. CROW is sponsored by the Associated Colleges of Illinois and generously supported by UPS. This site was created by Jon Mueller, Professor of Psychology at North Central College, Naperville, IL. Send comments to Jon.