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Biomedical subjects

S Worchel

Publications and source records attributed to S Worchel.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Social identity and individual productivity within groups.

The purpose of the present research was to show how social identity theory can be applied to enhance individual productivity within groups. Three experiments manipulated in-group identifiability and importance of the group for one's social identity, and compared individual's productivity when working alone to when working in a group setting. The group setting in the first study involved either a collective of unrelated individuals, a group of participants expecting future interaction, or a group working for a group reward. The second study compared productivity in groups with four differing interdependent reward structures. The final study examine the impact of group members wearing a common uniform (vs. no uniform) and the presence (or absence) of an out-group. Results supported the general prediction that group productivity would be enhanced by factors that increase group categorization and the importance of the group to members' social identities (future interaction, interdependent reward structure and uniform/outgroup present). However, productivity in groups was not influenced by perceptions of the task or identifiability of performance. These findings extent social identity theory by suggesting that group members will increase their in-group position through individual work efforts.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Competition and performance on a computer-based complex perceptual-motor task.

Employees of temporary agencies practiced Space Fortress, a complex video game task, for 10 sessions, each consisting of 8 practice and 2 test games of 3 min each. Trainees practiced individually, in dyads, or in tetrads, and they were classified as having high or low aptitude based on computer attitude scores and baseline performance. Competition for monetary prizes was introduced early in training, late in training, or not at all. Competition facilitated high-aptitude trainees but not low-aptitude trainees. Group size and the timing of competition instructions had no main effects or interactions. The results are discussed in terms of social facilitation theory, according to which competition facilitates dominant responses, which helps high-skill trainees but not low-skill trainees.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Facilitation of social interaction through deindividuation of the target.

It was hypothesized that actors want their perception of a target to be consistent with the type of interaction they expect. It was predicted that subjects expecting to aggress would deindividuate their target through the selective recall of deindividuating information. Conversely, subjects expecting a prosocial interaction should individuate the target. Further, angry subjects should deindividuate the individual who angered them. Male subjects were either angered or not angered by an experimental confederate and then given the opportunity to either shock, reward, or have no interaction with him. Subjects recalled information about the confederate either prior to or after the learning task. Subjects expecting to aggress deindividuated the target, whereas subjects expecting a prosocial interaction individuated him. Angry subjects deindividuated the target, nonangry subjects did not. Since the selective recall of information occurred prior to the interaction, the deindividuation (individuation) was aimed at facilitating future behavior rather than justifying it.

Aggression↗
PubMed1976

Collective coping with stress: group reactions to fear, anxiety, and ambiguity.

A review of studies examining the fear-affiliation relationship revealed that none had ever observed groups in interaction while awaiting a fearful event. It was predicted that such groups would, consistent with individual member's previously studied affiliative preferences, spend more time interacting in the service of social comparison needs than would groups facing anxiety or ambiguity. This prediction was strongly supported, and in addition, it was found, as expected, that groups in the fear condition developed a relatively high degree of cohesiveness as measured by intragroup attraction ratings. The implication of these results for the interpretation of the functional relationship between stress and cohesiveness was discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1976

The experience of crowding: a two-factor theory.

It was proposed that the experience of crowding occurs in a two-step process: First, the individual becomes aroused by violations of his personal space, and then he attributes the cause of this arousal to other people in his environment. Based on this model it was predicted that violations of personal space rather than simple density is the spatial variable associated with crowding. Further, it was predicted that the experience of crowding can be alleviated if the individual is distracted from making the attribution that his arousal is caused by other people. In order to test these prediction, interaction distance (close and far) and density (high and low) were varied separately. In addition, for half of the conditions, pictures (attribution inhibitors) were placed on the walls of the experimental room, and in the other half, the walls were bare. Subjects worked on two tasks and were then questioned about their experience of crowding. The results showed that interaction distance was more closely related to crowding than was density and that the addition of pictures reduced the experience of crowding only in the close interaction conditions. The results were interpreted as supporting the attribution analysis of crowding.

Arousal↗