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The present research investigated the effects of goal assignment and coworker feedback on the goal level set, and the effects of number of coworkers on quantity of production. Results indicated that the effects of goal setting are moderated by the presence of group norms. This finding can easily be incorporated into goal theory. However, contrary to expectations, subjects who were assigned the average of the self-set goals coded significantly more data than subjects who set their own goals. Moreover, neither of these means differed signifi cantly from that generated by subjects who had been assigned a specific hard goal set by the experimenter. Social comparison theory proved usefulfor explaining all the results obtained, including those that appeared to be inconsistent with previous findings.

AbstractA minimal group study examined the effect of peer group norms on children's direct and indirect bullying intentions. Prior to an inter‐group drawing competition, children (N = 85) aged seven and nine years were assigned to a group that had a norm of out‐group dislike or out‐group liking. Results indicated that, regardless of group norms, the children's attitudes were more positive towards the in‐group vs. the out‐group. Children's bullying intentions were greater when the in‐group had a norm of out‐group dislike vs. out‐group liking, the children were younger rather than older, and the bullying was indirect vs. direct. A three‐way interaction showed that the in‐group norms had a larger effect on the younger children's direct rather than indirect bullying intentions, but a larger effect on the older children's indirect rather than direct bullying intentions. Implications for understanding school bullying intentions and behaviour are discussed.

Organizational psychology was established as a particular discipline in the context of the Great Depression and the two World Wars, and was thus present from the beginning of the international history of psychology. The appearance of organizational psychology was partly related to a need for recruitment and selection principles and job design. After the Second World War, a need arose in addition to the treatment of war trauma and the collective processing of the painful experiences from the Holocaust. Kurt Lewin's term "resistance to change" and his interest in norms, values and dynamics of the small group stands centrally in organizational psychology's contribution to the study of organizations. In this article I present and discuss the impact and significance of five strands in organizational psychology: A social psychological strand, a psychodynamic strand, an occupational psychology strand, a humanistic strand and a systemic-constructionist strand. I present some of the most noteworthy authors and concepts. The strands I present make up neither a complete nor unequivocal description of the field. I use them as a founding structure to create an overview of a number of more or less coherent theory forms which collectively constitute what we mean by organizational psychology. I argue that organizational psychology as a discipline has been influenced by a number of paradigms and strands, but that the notions of resistance, the small group and process consultation, although they have variegated meaning go through all the strands and continues to be central in organizational psychology. Key words: Organizational psychology, resistance to change, the small group, process consultation, basic assumptions ; Organizational psychology may be seen as consisting of a number of mutually conflictual currents developed over several decades. This article discusses five currents in organizational psychology that have both been dominant in Scandinavia and have had particular significance in relation to the field of organizational development: The social psychological, the socio-technical, the humanistic, the work psychological and the social constructionist currents. Central arguments and works from leading scholars are discussed. It is argued that although treated differently the notions of the small group, group dynamics, resistance to change and process consultation constitute pivotal and through going tenets in all the currents. These notions, it is argued, link the discipline of organizational psychology together into a mutually discordant, but anyway relatively consistent research area. The discussion in the article illustrates that while the early contributions to organizational psychology were explicitly focused on interpersonal process based on egalitarian dialogue in the small group for the sake of democracy, satisfaction and efficiency; the latter rather focus on involving organizational participants in reflection and movement as a goal in itself. Moreover, the analysis exposes a decrease over time of strict analytical interest in group norms and contextualized tasks and also an increasing general socio-cognitive focus on providing flexible mindsets and reversing ready bodies for the sake of continual organizational change. It is argued that this latest budding in organizational psychology has negative implications both for the fineness of the scientific discipline and for the credibility in practice. A firmer ethics is demanded. Keywords: Organizational psychology, group dynamics, resistance to change, basic assumptions, relations, currents

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between group cohesion, group norms, and perceived social loafing among 118 soccer players playing junior league in Norway. Each player completed a questionnaire assessing group cohesion (task cohesion and social cohesion), team norms (productive norms, role involvement, and social support norms), and perceived social loafing. As predicted, all cohesion- and team-norm subscales were negatively correlated with perceived social loafing. Furthermore, the results showed that the players' attraction to their team's task as well as their perception of the productive- and social-support norm predicted perceptions of social loafing. A significant three-way interaction between task cohesion, social cohesion, and performance norm emerged. The analysis showed that the combination of high social cohesion, low task cohesion, and low team norms seems to underlie perceptions of social loafing.