Theories of Group Behavior

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Introduction: The Study of Group Behavior

   • Brian Mullen

   Pages 1-19

3. Social Comparison Theory: Self-Evaluation and Group Life

   • George R. Goethals, John M. Darley

   Pages 21-47

4. Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Collective Actions and Individual Reactions

   • Gerald N. Sande, Mark P. Zanna

   Pages 49-69

5. Self-Presentation Theory: Self-Construction and Audience Pleasing

   • Roy F. Baumeister, Debra G. Hutton

   Pages 71-87

6. Drive Theory: Effects of Socially Engendered Arousal

   • Russell G. Geen, Brad J. Bushman

   Pages 89-109

7. Social Impact Theory: A Social Forces Model of Influence

   • Jeffrey M. Jackson

   Pages 111-124

8. Self-Attention Theory: The Effects of Group Composition on the Individual

   • Brian Mullen

   Pages 125-146

9. Social Cognition Theory of Group Processes

   • John B. Pryor, Thomas M. Ostrom

   Pages 147-183

10. Transactive Memory: A Contemporary Analysis of the Group Mind

    • Daniel M. Wegner

    Pages 185-208

11. Theories of Group Behavior: Commentary

    • George R. Goethals

    Pages 209-229

12. Back Matter

    Pages 231-246

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In the fall of 1983, we began to organize a symposium entitled "General Social Psychological Theories of Group Behavior." Our goal was to encourage the extension and application of basic current social psychology to group behavior. The symposium was presented in the spring of 1984 at the Eastern Psychological Association convention in Baltimore and the interest that it generated led to discussions with colleagues and friends about similar efforts by social psychologists, eventually resulting in the present book. Some clarification about the contents is in order. First, the theories presented here are clearly social psychological in scope and level of analysis, as discussed in the Introduction (Chapter 1). However, we are not trying to encompass sociological, anthropological, political, or historical theoretical approaches to group behavior. Second, while the theories comprise a wide-ranging and representative, if not quite exhaustive, selection of social psychological theories of group behavior, there are some interesting and general perspectives that are not represented. For example, one perspective that is conspicuous by its absence is some variant of learning theory. Aside from the rare, notable exception (e.g., Buss, 1979), little work currently is being done on group behavior from a learning theoretic perspective. Our inclusion or exclusion of a theory reflects our judgment regarding its currency and accessibility to social psychological researchers.

• Evaluation
• Validation
• attention
• gender
• learning theory
• psychology

• Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, USA

  Brian Mullen

• Department of Psychology, Williams College, Williamstown, USA

  George R. Goethals

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