Participation in Heterogeneous and Homogeneous Groups: A Theoretical Integration

Avoiding Catastrophe: The Interactional Production of Possibility during the Cuban Missile Crisis

“…Perhaps oddly, scholars of decision making hardly ever give any serious thought at all to talk, that is, to what people say when they make decisions together. In sociology, task group research is mainly limited to the study of behavioral indicators of status, such as speaking (e.g., Fişek, Berger, andNorman 1991) andinterrupting (e.g., Smith-Lovin andBrody 1989), and the question of who defers to whom when there is a simple difference of opinion (e.g., Troyer and Younts 1997). Social psychologists (in psychology), meanwhile, see the problem of group decision making as basically a cognitive one involving multiple brains (Basten et al 2010).…”

Expectation States Theory

“…Behavior interchange patterns shape performance expectations most powerfully among those actors in a group who are equals in both their external status characteristics and their reward levels, such as between two women in a mixed sex group (Fisek et al, 1991). Behavioral interchange patterns are the means by which expectation states theory accounts for the development of status structures in homogeneous groups like those studied by Bales (1950Bales ( , 1970.…”

“…In addition to status characteristics and rewards, a third factor that can have independent effects on performance expectations is the behavioral interchange pattern that develops among two or more actors (Fisek, Berger, & Norman, 1991;Skvoretz & Fararo, 1996). Such a pattern occurs between two or more actors when one engages in assertive, higher status behaviors (e.g., initiating speech, making a task suggestion, resisting change in the face of disagreement) that are responded to with deferential, lower status behaviors by the other actor(s) (e.g., hesitating to speak, positively evaluating the other's suggestion, changing to agree with the other).…”

Attitude Change, Affect Control, and Expectation States in the Formation of Influence Networks

“…Expectation states theory is a family of models concerned with the formation of inequalities of individual behavior and interpersonal interaction in task-oriented groups (Balkwell, 1991;Berger, Conner & Fisek, 1974;Berger, Fisek, Norman & Zelditch Jr., 1977;Berger, Wagner & Zelditch Jr., 1985;Fisek, Berger & Norman, 1991;Fisek, Norman & Nelson-Kilger, 1992;Skvoretz, Webster & Whitmeyer, 1999;Wagner & Berger, 1993). Following Bales (1950), the initial emphasis of the theory was on an account of how inequalities of interpersonal influence emerge in status homogenous groups, where there are no differences among group members on certain socio-demographic characteristics; however, the theory was quickly extended to include an account of how the emergent inequalities of interpersonal influence in heterogeneous groups are shaped by members' socio-demographic characteristics.…”