Group Processes

Suppose that a large number of individuals are randomly matched into groups where each group plays a finite symmetric game. Individuals breed true according to their individual material payoffs, but the expected number of surviving offspring may depend on the material payoff vector to the whole group. We show that the mean-field equation for the induced population dynamic is equivalent to the replicator dynamic for a game with payoffs derived from those in the original game. We apply this selection dynamic to a number of examples, including prisoners' dilemma games, coordination games, hawk-dove games, a prisoners' dilemma with a punishment option, and common-pool games. For each of these, we provide conditions under which our selection dynamic leads to other outcomes than those obtained under the usual replicator dynamic. By way of a revealedpreference argument, we show how our selection dynamic can explain certain stable behaviors that are consistent with individuals having social preferences.

The influence of teammates' shared mental models on team processes and performance was tested using 56 undergraduate dyads who "flew" a series of missions on a personal-computer-based flightcombat simulation. The authors both conceptually and empirically distinguished between teammates' task-and team-based mental models and indexed their convergence or "sharedness" using individually completed paired-comparisons matrices analyzed using a network-based algorithm. The results illustrated that both shared-team-and task-based mental models related positively to subsequent team process and performance. Furthermore, team processes fully mediated the relationship between mental model convergence and team effectiveness. Results are discussed in terms of the role of shared cognitions in team effectiveness and the applicability of different interventions designed to achieve such convergence.

Evidence suggests that student nurses need to share their personal responses to practice by describing their feelings and experiences. These experiences are often accompanied by a degree of stress. Whilst reflection may enhance students' learning in practice there is little evidence to support the degree of support they may obtain from this process.

anagement of asthma often focuses on "crisis intervention," meaning that the disease is addressed only when a problem occurs. Shifting emphasis to a preventive health model, which includes guided self-management, has been shown to reduce costs related to hospital admissions and visits to emergency departments. 1 Education about asthma is an integral part of the recommendations of most guidelines for the management of asthma. 2-4 There is no consensus on the best model for education about asthma. A review of publications from 1991 through 2004 showed that only half of the studies identified were randomized controlled trials and that many studies used patients as their own historic controls. 4 Given that a regression to the mean is commonly observed in the data of such studies, with improvements in asthma over time, the use of historic controls is not an acceptable means of defining the impact of education. The studies reviewed also varied greatly in the demographic characteristics of the participants, the professional qualifications of the educators used, the nature of the interventions, the outcomes measured, the time frames for measurement and the inclusion of medical care and other services. These variations make it difficult to compare results and make firm recommendations. 5-15 Programs of education about asthma are typically directed toward the learner and conducted using either a one-on-one, large-group or small-group format. The intervention may consist of self-directed educational material, lectures (i.e., a teacher-focused format) or group interaction (i.e., a learnerfocused format). Effective change in behaviour occurs when learners actively interact with the content to be learned, with the teacher and with each other. 16 Small groups of fewer than 10 members allow for an ideal level of interaction. Westberg and Jason 17 cite several compelling reasons for using small groups to promote learning. Learners are more likely to take ownership of their education and may be more engaged with

Participants' perspectives of a multi-component, group-based weight loss programme supplement for cardiac rehabilitation: A qualitative study Addressing overweight and obesity in people with cardiovascular risk factors is an important aspect of cardiac rehabilitation, but minimal implementation of targeted strategies has occurred. The aim of this study was to describe participants' perspectives of a multi-component, group-based weight loss supplement to cardiac rehabilitation programmes. Four focus groups of participants completing the intervention (n = 16) and maintenance phases (n = 19) of the Healthy Eating and Exercise Lifestyle Program (HEELP) were conducted. Interviews were transcribed and thematically analyzed using an inductive process. The overall theme of participants' responses was that HEELP helped them reprogramme their lifestyle behaviours to achieve weight loss. The programme was unique compared with other weight loss programmes because it was delivered and developed by familiar and expert health professionals who tailored the programme to participants' health status. Themes included the process of recognizing and deciding to make a commitment to managing their weight problem and feeling supported by the group and the staff to do this. Participants valued the group-based structure and the

Background. The aviation industry uses crew resource management (CRM) to address the human aspect of error. Dentistry can incorporate these concepts to reduce dental error. The authors provide a checklist to help clinicians mitigate error. Methods. Health care systems have begun to focus on medical error. During the past 30 years, the airline industry has developed mitigation strategies that are being adapted for medicine. CRM involves the use of information, equipment and people to increase safety by targeting early identification of errors. Results. To enhance safety, practitioners must implement forwardthinking strategies. Because human error is inevitable, threat and error management (TEM) techniques are needed to help identify and trap error before it develops into unexpected outcomes. Risk analysis increases situational awareness (SA) of potential dental error. Efficiency increases with early error detection. Conclusions. The authors provide a dental checklist that is divided into "appointment review," "before procedure," "procedure," "before dismissal" and "after dismissal" to organize dental activities in a manner that enhances error detection. Practice Implications. The dental checklist is a tool to incorporate CRM and TEM techniques into the dental care environment to increase SA, safety and efficiency.

A participatory ergonomics model was designed for improving working conditions, quality, and productivity in a medium-sized manufacturing enterprise by making use of a Supportive Expert Team (SET). In order to implement the model, a team-based structure consisting of a Steering Committee (SC) and 2 Action Groups (AGs) was designed and a 5-phase methodology followed. To validate the model, a similar factory was selected as control. Performance of the model was successful throughout the project. AGs under the supervision of the SC and the support of the SET designed and implemented several ergonomics solutions using local resources. Our findings showed that, in comparison with the control factory, application of such a model could be considered as a provider of a more humanized work environment as well as a more efficient and cost-effective approach.

Focus group methodology uses focused interviews to obtain information from individuals and interactions among individuals in a small group setting. In this article we share the insights we have gained from using focus group methodology in work with an under-served population of black menopausal women. This methodology holds promise for advancing our understanding of, and ultimately eliminating, health disparities. Included is a discussion of planning and facilitating the focus group, recruiting group members, collecting and analyzing the data and reporting the results. Throughout, we explain how we applied these principles and we conclude by sharing lessons learned from our study on menopause and midlife experiences in Black women.

ABSTRACT. The authors compared the performance of 78 African American 5th-grade students who studied a math-estimation task in one of two learning contexts. Learning contexts differed in the degree to which they afforded the expression of communalism. ANCOVA confirmed that posttest performance was best for students who studied in the high communal-learning context. The findings support A. W.

Seventy-two male Israeli students were exposed to a violent crime in the course of a bogus discussion. Their awareness of other bystanders' lack of reaction to the emergency (social influence) and others' awareness of their actions (evaluation apprehension) were crossed in a 2 X 2 factorial design. An "alone" condition in which the subject was the only bystander controlled for the effects of others' mere presence (diffusion of responsibility). Helping was reduced by diffusion of responsibility and slowed by negative social influence but was increased by evaluation apprehension. Differences traceable to social influence appeared prior to those from the other processes. Implications of these findings for the measurement of helping and the interpretation of bystander decision making are discussed.

Two experiments investigated differences in forming impressions of individual and group targets. Experiment 1 showed that when forming an impression of an individual, perceivers made more extreme trait judgments, made those judgments more quickly and with greater confidence, and recalled more information than when the impression target was a group. Experiment 2 showed that when participants were forming an impression of an individual, expectancy-inconsistent behaviors spontaneously triggered causal attributions to resolve the inconsistency; this was not the case when the impression target was a group. Results are interpreted as reflecting perceivers' a priori assumptions of unity and coherence in individual versus group targets.

The chameleon effect refers to nonconscious mimicry of the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one's interaction partners, such that one's behavior passively and unintentionally changes to match that of others in one's current social environment. The authors suggest that the mechanism involved is Has. perception-behavior link, the recently documented finding (e.g., J. A. Bargh, M. Chen, & L. Burrows, 1996) that the mere perception of another's behavior automatically increases the likelihood of engaging in that behavior oneself. Experiment 1 showed that the motor behavior of participants unintentionally matched that of strangers with whom they worked on a task. Experiment 2 had confederates mimic the posture and movements of participants and showed that mimicry facilitates the smoothness of interactions and increases liking between interaction partners. Experiment 3 showed that dispositionally empathic individuals exhibit the chameleon effect to a greater extent than do other people. He looked about his surroundings. They had become so familiar to him that, without realizing it, he was beginning to take on some of the mannerisms of the people who lived there.-Georges Simenon, Maigret and the Toy Village

The management of occupational health and safety (OHS) including safety culture interventions is comprised of complex problems that are often hard to scope and define. Due to the dynamic nature and complexity of OHS management, the concept of system dynamics (SD) is used to analyze accident prevention. In this paper, a system dynamics group model building (GMB) approach is used to create a causal loop diagram of the underlying factors influencing the OHS performance of a major drilling and mining contractor in Australia. While the organization has invested considerable resources into OHS their disabling injury frequency rate (DIFR) has not been decreasing. With this in mind, rich individualistic knowledge about the dynamics influencing the DIFR was acquired from experienced employees with operations, health and safety and training background using a GMB workshop. Findings derived from the workshop were used to develop a series of causal loop diagrams that includes a wide range of dynamics that can assist in better understanding the causal influences OHS performance. The causal loop diagram provides a tool for organizations to hypothesize the dynamics influencing effectiveness of OHS management, particularly the impact on DIFR. In addition the paper demonstrates that the SD GMB approach has significant potential in understanding and improving OHS management.► We conducted a system dynamics group modelling workshop for a major drilling and mining contractor in Australia. >Rich individualistic knowledge was acquired in the workshop. ► Causal loop diagrams were created representing the complex factors influencing management of occupational health and safety. ► Paper demonstrates that the group model building approach has significant potential.

Background: This study evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention for reading-delayed children in Year-1 classes. Methods: A sample (N ¼ 77) of children drawn from 14 schools representing those with the weakest reading skills were randomly allocated to one of two groups. A 20-week intervention group received the intervention for two consecutive 10-week periods, while a 10-week intervention group only received the intervention for the second 10 weeks of the study. The programme was delivered in daily 20-minute sessions that alternated between small group (N ¼ 3) and individual teaching. The programme combined phoneme awareness training, word and text reading, and phonological linkage exercises. Results: The children receiving the intervention during the first 10-week period made significantly more progress on measures of letter knowledge, single word reading, and phoneme awareness than children not receiving the intervention. However, the children who only received the intervention during the second 10-week period made rapid progress and appeared to catch up with the children who had been given the more prolonged intervention. Failure to respond to the intervention was predicted by poor initial literacy skills and being in receipt of free school meals. Conclusion: A reading intervention programme delivered on a daily basis by trained teaching assistants is an effective intervention for children who show reading delays at the end of their first year in school. However, around one-quarter of the children did not respond to this intervention and these children would appear to need more intensive or more prolonged help to improve their reading skills.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a phonological awareness (PA) intervention, designed for Tier 2 instruction in a Response to Intervention (RTI) model, delivered to small groups of preschoolers. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention on low-income preschool children's PA skills. A trained interventionist delivered small group sessions three to four days a week and ensured children received frequent opportunities to respond and contingent feedback. Participants received 28 to 36 lessons that lasted about 10 minutes each and focused on PA and alphabet knowledge. Initiation of intervention was staggered across three triads and seven children completed the study. The intervention produced consistent gains on weekly progress monitoring assessments of the primary outcome measure for first sound identification (First Sound Fluency). Most children also demonstrated gains on other measures of PA...

Background: Recent research indicates that university students are interested and active in supporting their learning by using Facebook, a popular social networking website. Aim: This study aimed to add to our understanding of how or how effectively students may be using Facebook for this purpose. Method: Researchers surveyed the extent and key features of Facebook use among 759 medical students at one university, and explored in depth the design and conduct of four Facebook study groups. Results: 25.5% of students reported using Facebook for education related reasons and another 50.0% said they were open to doing so. The case studies showed conservative approaches in students' efforts to support their development of medical knowledge, skills and attributes in this way. Both technological affordances and group dynamics were factors contributing to groups' mixed successes. Conclusion: These cases indicate that using Facebook as part of learning and teaching is as much of a challenge for many students as it may be for most educators.

Teams are the fundamental element of work in the contemporary clinical setting. As interdisciplinary teams become an essential component of the evidence-based framework for clinical practice, their formalization, integration, and synthesis within the practice framework will become increasingly mandatory. Outlined here is a contextual model for team action that is formalized as the organizational leadership continuously addresses the structural and process components of team dynamics in a continuous and cybernetic frame that assures all of the elements of effective teamwork. The theoretical foundations for team modeling are explicated, the elements of the systems approach to team process are outlined, and a necessary synthesis of team processes is described and established as a foundation for evidence-based clinical practice.

In many healthcare systems, treatment recommendations for cancer patients are formulated by multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs). Evidence suggests that interdisciplinary contributions to case reviews in the meetings are unequal and information-sharing suboptimal, with biomedical information dominating over information on patient comorbidities and psychosocial factors. This study aimed to evaluate how different elements of the decision process affect the teams' ability to reach a decision on first case review. This was an observational quantitative assessment of 1045 case reviews from 2010 to 2014 in cancer MTBs using a validated tool, the Metric for the Observation of Decision-making. This tool allows evaluation of the quality of information presentation (case history, radiological, pathological, and psychosocial information, comorbidities, and patient views), and contribution to discussion by individual core specialties (surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, and ...

PURPOSE In 2003, we described initial use of teambased learning (TBL) at 10 medical schools. The purpose of the present study was to review progress and understand factors affecting the use of TBL at these schools during the subsequent 2 years.

Little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying prosocial decisions and how they are modulated by social factors such as perceived group membership. The present study investigates the neural processes preceding the willingness to engage in costly helping toward ingroup and outgroup members. Soccer fans witnessed a fan of their favorite team (ingroup member) or of a rival team (outgroup member) experience pain. They were subsequently able to choose to help the other by enduring physical pain themselves to reduce the other's pain. Helping the ingroup member was best predicted by anterior insula activation when seeing him suffer and by associated self-reports of empathic concern. In contrast, not helping the outgroup member was best predicted by nucleus accumbens activation and the degree of negative evaluation of the other. We conclude that empathy-related insula activation can motivate costly helping, whereas an antagonistic signal in nucleus accumbens reduces the propensity to help.

Background. During recent decades, self-regulated learning (SRL) has become a major research field. SRL successfully integrates the cognitive and motivational components of learning. Self-regulation is usually seen as an individual process, with the social aspects of regulation conceptualized as one aspect of the context. However, recent research has begun to investigate whether self-regulation processes are complemented by socially shared regulation processes.

Background: The purpose of this research was to translate into Spanish and examine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Controlling Coach Behaviors Scale (CCBS) in male soccer players. The CCBS is a questionnaire designed to assess athletes' perceptions of sports coaches' controlling interpersonal style from the perspective of the selfdetermination theory. Method: Study 1 tested the factorial structure of the translated scale using confi rmatory factor analysis (CFA) and provided evidence of discriminant validity. Studies 2 and 3 examined the invariance across time and across competitive level via multi-sample CFA. Reliability analyses were also conducted. Results: The CFA results revealed that a four-factor model was acceptable, indicating that a controlling interpersonal style is a multidimensional construct represented by four separate and related controlling coaching strategies. Further, results supported the invariance of the CCBS factor structure across time and competitive level and provided support for the internal consistency of the scale. Conclusions: Overall, the CCBS demonstrated adequate internal consistency, as well as good factorial validity. The Spanish version of the CCBS represents a valid and reliable adaptation of the instrument, which can be confi dently used to measure soccer players' perceptions of their coaches' controlling interpersonal style.

To evaluate whether attending diabetes group visits (GVs) leads to lower medical care charges for inadequately insured patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Randomized controlled clinical trial. Data were abstracted from financial records for 186 patients with uncontrolled type 2 DM randomized to receive care in GVs or usual care for 12 months. Mann-Whitney tests for differences of means for outpatient visits (primary and specialty care), emergency department (ED) visits, and inpatient stays were performed. Separate charge models were developed for primary and specialty outpatient visits. Because GV adherence is potentially dependent on unobserved patient characteristics, treatment effect models of outpatient charges and specialty care visits were estimated using maximum likelihood methods. Mann-Whitney test results indicated that GV patients had reduced ED and total charges but more outpatient charges than usual care patients. Ordinary least squares estimations confirmed tha...

Identity control theory has long posited that there are positive emotional consequences to identity verification and negative emotional consequences to the lack of identity verification . While some of the positive consequences of identity verification have been discussed , little work has been done to elaborate the variety of negative emotions that result for a discrepancy between meanings held in the identity standard and meanings perceived in the situation. This paper elaborates the nature of this discrepancy and hypothesizes the variety of negative emotions that arise depending upon the source of the discrepancy, the source of the identity standard, and the relative power and status of the actor and others in the situation. In this way, the emotional consequences of identity non-verification are shown to depend upon the context of the social structure in which the non-verification occurs.

Five studies examined the effects of priming the secure base schema on intergroup bias. In addition, Studies 1-2 examined the effects of dispositional attachment style, Studies 2-5 examined a mood interpretation, Study 3 examined the mediating role of threat appraisal, and Studies 4-5 examined the effects of secure base priming while inducing a threat to self-esteem or cultural worldview. Secure base priming led to less negative evaluative reactions toward out-groups than positive affect and neutral control conditions. In addition, whereas the effects of secure base priming did not depend on attachment style and were not explained by mood induction, they were mediated by threat appraisal and occurred even when self-esteem or cultural worldview was threatened. The discussion emphasizes the relevance of attachment theory for understanding intergroup attitudes.

Background Problem-based learning (PBL) and other small-group teaching methods which incorporate principles of adult learning, are exciting innovations in medical education. In the application of these methods to medical curricula many schools have introduced non-expert tutors. However, research evaluating the effectiveness of non-expert lead teaching has been inconclusive.

A number of interpersonal issues relevant to manned space missions have been identified from the literature. These include crew tension, cohesion, leadership, language and cultural factors, and displacement. Ground-based studies by others and us have clarified some of the parameters of these issues and have indicated ways in which they could be studied during actual space missions. In this paper, we summarize some of our findings related to social and cultural issues from a NASA-funded study conducted during several Shuttle/Mir space missions. We used standardized mood and group climate measures that were completed on a weekly basis by American and Russian crew and mission control subjects who participated in these missions. Our results indicated that American subjects reported more dissatisfaction with their interpersonal environment than their Russian counterparts, especially American astronauts. Mission control personnel were more dysphoric than crewmembers, but both groups were ...

Objectives. Hearing voices groups (HVGs) are increasingly common in National Health Services and are often preferred to individual therapy by both service users and providers. Whilst a range of approaches exist, mixed results have been found and only cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) was supported by well-controlled trials. This study aimed to explore possible predictors and mechanisms of change in a seven-session CBT group for voice hearers.

Objective: To examine university students' attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs related to hazing. Methods: A random and representative sample of students completed a web-based survey regarding teambuilding and initiation behaviors (N=736). Results: Thirty-six percent of the respondents participated in hazing. Greeks, males, varsity athletes, leaders, and upperclassmen were more likely to engage in hazing. Students who engaged in hazing were more likely to engage in positive team-building activities. Conclusions: Hazing is occurring on campus, although not always recognized as such by students. Various factors that would enable someone to stop a hazing situation are addressed.

Book Award 1997, Academy of Management. This award is granted annually to author of book judged to have made the most outstanding contribution to the advancement of management knowledge and published during the past two years. Distinguished Educator 2002, Academy of Management. This is one of the highest honors the Academy of Management bestows on its members. It is given in recognition of educational contributions.

New leaders face a challenging task when they take charge of their teams. They have to determine how best to guide the work process, and they must understand how their behaviors will affect the members of their team. This research examines how a newly assigned team leader's status moderates subordinates' reactions to different leadership styles to affect assessments of the leader's self-confidence and effectiveness, and how this impacts team performance. Across 2 experimental studies, results demonstrate that low-status leaders are rated as more effective when they use a directive style, whereas high-status leaders are viewed as more effective when they use a participative style, and this relationship is mediated by perceptions of self-confidence. In addition, teams whose leaders are viewed more favorably perform better on a complex group task. These findings imply that low-status individuals are able to enhance their level of personal power by drawing on whatever positional power they hold, whereas high-status individuals are better off relying solely on their personal power to influence others. This research also provides a clear demonstration that assessments of new leaders' behaviors are subject to an appraisal that is clouded by observers' status perceptions and attributions.

Psychological studies of relationships tend to focus on specific types of close personal relationships (romantic, parent-offspring, friendship) and examine characteristics of both the individuals and the dyad. This paper looks more broadly at the wider range of relationships that constitute an individual's personal social world. Recent work on the composition of personal social networks suggests that they consist of a series of layers that differ in the quality and quantity of relationships involved. Each layer increases relationship numbers by an approximate multiple of 3 (5-15-50-150) but decreasing levels of intimacy (strong, medium, and weak ties) and frequency of interaction. To account for these regularities, we draw on both social and evolutionary psychology to argue that relationships at different layers serve different functions and have different cost-benefit profiles. At each layer, the benefits are asymptotic but the costs of maintaining a relationship at that level (most obviously, the time that has to be invested in servicing it) are roughly linear with the number of relationships. The trade-off between costs and benefits at a given level, and across the different types of demands and resources typical of different levels, gives rise to a distribution of social effort that generates and maintains a hierarchy of layered sets of relationships within social networks. We suggest that, psychologically, these trade-offs are related to the level of trust in a relationship, and that this is itself a function of the time invested in the relationship. Social relationships are studied in numerous fields of basic and applied psychology. Within social psychology, relationships are a fundamental component in models of

The toll in death, suffering, and displacement caused by conflicts engaging groups defined by ethnicity, nationality, religion, or other social identities has reached staggering proportions over the past decade. With expertise in research and intervention, psychologists have critical contributions to make to more fully understanding and more effectively confronting this distressing global phenomenon. The authors focus on the parallels between the core beliefs of individuals and the collective worldviews of groups that may operate to trigger or constrain violent struggles. On the basis of a review of relevant literatures, 5 belief domains-superiority, injustice, vulnerability, distrust, and helplessness-are identified as particularly important for further study. Editor's note. Cheryl B. Travis served as action editor for this article.

Care pathways are often said to promote interprofessional teamwork. As no systematic review on pathway effectiveness has ever focused on how care pathways promote teamwork, the objective of this review was to study this relationship. We performed an extensive search of electronic databases and identified 26 relevant studies. In our analysis of these studies we identified 20 team indicators and found that care pathways positively affected 17 of these indicators. Most frequently positive effects were found on staff knowledge, interprofessional documentation, team communication and team relations. However, the level of evidence was rather low. We found Level II evidence for improved interprofessional documentation. We also found Level II evidence for increased workload; improved actual versus planned team size; and improved continuity of care. The studies most frequently mentioned the need for a multidisciplinary approach and educational training sessions in order for pathways to be successful. The systematic review revealed that care pathways have the potential to support interprofessional teams in enhancing teamwork. Necessary conditions are a context that supports teamwork and including appropriate active pathway components that can mediate an effect on team processes. To achieve this, each care pathway requires a clearly defined team approach customized to the individual teams' needs.

Focus groups are used frequently in nursing research as a method for collecting qualitative data. However, due to inadequate planning or execution, the results can be of poor quality or even worthless. A well-defined purpose, carefully planned environment, and well trained personnel are discussed as the cornerstones to focus group success. This article sets the stage with a description of a well conducted focus group, then provides examples and a critique of less-than-effective groups. Focus groups can be powerful and effective when their use is appropriate to the study purpose, the environment is non-judgmental and welcoming, and the personnel are skilled. ß