Group interaction and group decision-making: The effects of time pressure, consensus, and awareness of common ground

Steven James Karau, Purdue University

Abstract

The current research examined the interaction and decision making implications of time pressure, degree of initial consensus among group members, and awareness of common ground (i.e., knowledge of which particular information was shared among group members versus unshared and available to just one member). Triads participated in a drug marketing simulation in which members were given fact sheets containing positive, negative, and neutral information about two decision alternatives and were allowed access to these sheets during discussion. The total information available to each group always favored the same drug. However, initial consensus was manipulated by altering the amount of shared and unshared information favoring each decision alternative such that each member's initial information either mildly (weak consensus) or strongly (strong consensus) favored the incorrect drug. Awareness of common ground was manipulated by separately labelling the unshared information in the high awareness condition.^ High awareness groups contributed more unshared information and made better decisions than did low awareness groups. Time pressure led to poorer decisions, but only when the initial consensus among group members was strong. Discussion content was strongly related to final decisions. Implications of these findings for Karau and Kelly's (1992) Attentional Focus Model and for future research and practice are discussed. ^

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Major Professor: Janice R. Kelly, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Psychology, Social|Psychology, General

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