Risky and cautious shifts in group decisions: The influence of widely held values

The influence of groups and alcohol consumption on individual risk-taking

“…The type of risk presented may further influence group decisions when individual members are permitted to discuss the options. Discussion surrounding risky scenarios known to result in more cautious behaviour in 'real life' may subsequently influence the group to decide on a more risk-adverse option (Stoner, 1968). The social influences on risk-taking behaviour are seemingly complex, as it appears that both the characteristics of the group in question, and the type of risk taken (or not taken) contribute to the decisions made in social contexts.…”

“…Formative work by Stoner (1961) indicated that groups were significantly more likely to take higher risks than individuals, for which he coined 'the risky shift' (Moscovici & Zavalloni, 1969;Myers & Lamm, 1976;Stoner, 1968). Further, this effect is suggested to be pronounced in larger groups (Teger & Pruitt, 1967), that being, the larger the group, the riskier they become.…”

The social life of the novel idea: what did social psychologists ever do for us?

“…This is documented as attributable to the risk tolerant, non-adversarial and positive team climate facilitated by the client and maintained in project team interaction (Harris et al, 2003) The field of social psychology offers further, significant and more detailed discussion that considers the valuation and acceptance of risk in collaborative decision-making. In a study of the effects of group interaction on risk and caution in decision making, a significant Master's thesis study by Stoner in 1961(Stoner, 1968Cartwright, 1971;Pruitt, 1971) noted that greater risk taking occurs during social interaction than during individual evaluation. Wallach et al (1962) later posits that this is due to a spreading of responsibility for risks across the group and the fact that individuals with a previous propensity for taking risks are more likely to become dominant within that group.…”

Evaluation of Samg Effectiveness in View of Group Decision

“…[8,9] The typical findings of organization behavior research is that on the average, subjects shift toward greater risk: that is, group discussion influences the group to accept alternatives with lower odds of success. This group-induced shift toward risk has been obtained with a wide range of decision content, including hypothetical decisions and situations where positive and negative consequences to subjects may actually result from their decisions.…”