Interaction on the Edge : Proceedings from the 5Th GRASP

Johan Näslund & Stefan Jern (Editors) Since May 1998 Scandinavian group researchers and social psychologists have met bi-annually for what has to be called the GRASP conference. GRASP originally stood Interaction on the Edge for ”Group as Paradox”. The first four conferences were held in Linköping, Lund, Stockholm and Skövde respectively. Proceedings from the 5th GRASP conference, Linköping University, May 2006 The fifth conference was organized at Linköping University May 11-12, 2006 under the auspices of the FOG FORUM group. Generous assistance was given by the De- partment of Behavioural Sciences and the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskaps- rådet). This year’s theme was ”Interaction on the Edge” and a special emphasis was put on inter group processes. Sixty researchers from Sweden and Denmark took part INTERACTION ON THE EDGE and listened to thirty presentations. Twelve of these have been accepted for this proceeding volume. Johan Näslund & Stefan Jern (Editors) ISBN 978-91-85715-09-1 INTERACTION ON THE EDGE Johan Näslund & Stefan Jern (Editors) Interaction on the Edge Proceedings from the 5th GRASP conference, Linköping University, May 2006 ISBN 978-91-85715-09-1 Johan Näslund & Stefan Jern Interaction on the Edge, proceedings from the 5th GRASP conference, Linköping University, May 2006 © 2006 Författarna Grafisk form: Anna Bäcklin Lindén Omslagsbild: Johan Näslund Upplagans storlek: 130 Datum: April 2007 Tryck: LiU-Tryck, Linköpings universitet CONTENTS Interaction on the edge 7 Kjell Granström Effects of reward system on herding in a simulated 12 financial market Maria Andersson Identity and computer games; a conceptual inventory 37 Lars-Erik Berg Multiprofessional teamwork in a psychiatric setting: 52 From what perspectives are the patients viewed during treatment conference? Suzanne Blomqvist Är gräset grönare i den andra gruppen? Studenters 70 erfarenheter av grupparbete Eva Hammar Chiriac & Charlotta Einarsson Ambitioner som inte överrensstämmer - En studie 88 kring elevers grupparbeten Karin Forslund Frykedal Social identities of engineering students 103 – a longitudinal study Tomas Jungert Identity theories and ageing processes on the 117 concept of coding Clary Krekula & Jan Trost Shame and guilt: The social feelings in a 128 sociological perspective Vessela Misheva Identitet som gruppfenomen? – En relationell 143 tolkning av gruppsjälen Jessica Mjöberg Career retirement, role exit and identity concerns 157 Jonas Stier Åskådareffekt och aktörsförklaringar i en klassrums- 170 situation Robert Thornberg Poor decision making related to personality, stress 186 reactions, group dynamics and situation awareness in military staffs Claes Wallenius Epilogue 197 Stefan Jern INTERACTION ON THE EDGE. GRASP 2006 at Linköping University Kjell Granström Ten years ago a small number of researchers within the field of group psychology were united in some sort of a research team. They were called FOG (Field research on Organizations and Groups) and most of the members were related to Linköping University. These researchers invited to the first conference in a series, which came to be called GRASP conferences (group and social psychology). The second conference was held in Lund, the third in Stockholm, the fourth in Skövde and the fifth is now back in Linköping. The purpose of the conferences has been to offer a meeting place for group and social psychologists in the Nordic countries, but especially in Sweden. Group and social psychology is not yet a large scientific field in Scandinavia, although it is abroad. Therefore, it is important to offer a forum where doctoral students and senior researchers can write, read, meet, and discuss planned and ongoing projects. The theme of the GRASP conference 2006 is “Interaction on the edge”. What does that mean? • On the edge in sense of being in the front • On the edge sense of being near breaking through • On the edge sense of being near the collapse • On the edge sense of living dangerous • On the edge sense of being on the top I am convinced that in some sense Nordic group and social psychology is on the edge. The choice is yours to decide which type of edge it is. If we look at group and social psychology in a historical perspective, this field of research has been on the edge at several points of time. I will present a short cavalcade of research hits or scientific peaks in the history. That means research efforts on group and social psychology that have left marks of the researchers’ footsteps. Examples on such footprints are, for instance, Le Bon’s ideas about crowd behaviour or Ringelmann’s findings concerning productivity (the so called Ringelmann effect). However, more composed and long-lasting tracks can be located at three time clusters in the last century. 7 The first one occurs in the 1930s, the second around the 1950s and the third one during 1960 to 1970. After that there are just a few footprints and history will show if they are long lasting. The three periods or epochs with tracks left in the scientific history of group and social psychology are, according to my historical research, concentrated at the middle of the last century. 1 2 3 1900 1930 1950 1960-1970 2000 I prefer to call the three periods in the following way indicating that the scientific interest among group and social psychology researchers had three different common focuses. 1. The measurement breaking through 2. The conformity period 3. The social influence period In order to prove this assumption, I will reel of a number of names of researchers and their innovations. And if you, as a social psychology researcher, do not recognize about half of them, then my idea has failed. So, let us have a try! Table 1. The first period. The measurement breaking through ________________________________________________________________ Time Researcher Phenomena ________________________________________________________________ 1928 Allport Attitudes to other groups. Submissiveness. 1928 Thurstone Attitudes can be measured. Thurstone-scale. 1929 Zorbaugh et al. Observations of authentic groups, gangs, crowds. 1930 Hartshorne Measurements of moral character. 1930 Guilford & Braly Intro-version, extroversion scale. 1931 Cowley Leadership traits. 1932 Moreno Sociometric method, sociodrama. 1932 Likert Attitude scale, Likert-scale. 1932 Parten Structured observation of human interaction. 1933 Mayo Studies of human relations. Western Electric. 1939 Bennington Correlation studies. ________________________________________________________________ In a few years around the 1930s a lot of research strategies, that we still use, were introduced. Certainly, they have been developed since then, but the basic 8 assumptions are the same concerning data collection and data treatment. These early social psychologists gave us a solid ground to start from. The next period started at the end of the second War and concerned conformity. That is not a coincidence. The whole world had been frightened of what blind obedience and conformity may result in. Thus, the interest in destructive human behaviour was obvious. Table 2. The conformity period ________________________________________________________________ Time Researcher Phenomena ________________________________________________________________ 1943 Lewin Action research (Lippit and White) 1947 Lewin Behavioural formula B = f(I, E). 1949 Deutsch Group cohesion 1950 Festinger Attitude change, dissonance theory. 1950 Bales Interaction process analysis (group pressure) 1951 Schachter Communication and cohesiveness 1955 Asch Studies on conformity 1956 French Analysis of power ________________________________________________________________ The above list is just a sample of research around the 1950s. The interest focused on conformity. Why does an individual, in some situations, conform and even behave in opposition to basic human values? We are still concerned about that question. In the third period there was a focus on interaction processes and the problem of what makes people change attitudes, behaviour and marital partners. In what way can knowledge about social influence be used in political or commercial purposes? The applications of the research findings were not a question for the researchers. However, whether they did care or not, their findings became applied to a lot of social situations. Here is the list. 9 Table 3. The social influence period ________________________________________________________________ Time Researcher Phenomena ________________________________________________________________ 1963 Milgram Obedience 1963 Newcomb Interpersonal attractions 1964 Shaw Communication network 1964 Blake & Mouton Negotiations. The Grid. 1962 Bion Basic assumption theory 1964 Fiedler Contingency model of leadership 1966 Latané Social comparison 1966 Biddle & Thomas Roles and norms 1969 Davis Productivity 1972 Steiner Group task and group work 1972 Janis Groupthink 1975 Hackman Group performance effectiveness ________________________________________________________________ Once again there is a sample of names (maybe more focussed on groups than on social psychology this time). However the zeitgeist is obvious. The main interest during this period is on peoples’ interaction with each other. The heritage from this period may be obedience, communication networks, contingency theory, groupthink and negotiations. We are still mocking with such items. Then, which are the new items on the agenda? What will the content of the fourth period be? I think we can call the fourth period: Interaction

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