Suchergebnisse

The overwhelming evidence from data collected in mixed-gender groups is that men originate more behaviors related to solving the task confronting the group than do women. However, efforts to detect whether men and women interact differently in same-gender task groups have produced less consistent findings. Some studies report men originating more task behavior than women, but others report no such difference in task behaviors. We examine data from an experiment in which men and women participated in a decision-making task in two types of same gender groups. In type one, no initial differentiating structure was introduced into the group prior to interaction on the task. In type two, initial differentiating structures were introduced prior to the interaction on the task. We examine the effects that these differentiating structures have on the interaction patterns in these groups, as well as the effects that the gender of the subject has on these interaction processes. Experimental results show that in type one groups, similar power and prestige orders emerged in all-female and all-male groups and that there were no significant gender differences in the rates of task behaviors in these groups. In type two groups, initial differentiating structures organized power and prestige orders, and overall there were no significant differences in the rates of task behavior between all-female and all-male type two groups. Theoretical arguments from expectations states theory are presented to account for these findings.

In collectively oriented task groups in which people are differentiated on status, the status characteristics tend to determine the relative power and prestige position of the group members. The current study suggests that it may be possible for a task group member, using his or her association with an accepted higher status "source," to influence other members of an equal status group. The authors examine influence patterns in task groups when one group member is associated with a higher status person or source. Forty undergraduate students participated in a standardized experiment in which both the participants and their partners were equally low in status. Results indicate that being associated with a high-status, high-ability non-group member raises the status of an otherwise low-status partner.

Expectation states theories of status processes have consistently shown that participation and influence patterns in groups are a function of differences in external status characteristics. A branch of this theoretical research program, Status Characteristics Theory (SCT) deals specifically with the processes by which external status characteristics come to determine the allocation of status positions within groups. The authors pose three arguments relevant to this program. First, agreement on thefinal choice is a much more likely outcome than disagreement in situations that meet most of the conditions of the standardized experimental setting, even when the probability of staying with one's own answer given disagreement is highfor group members. Second, agreement is yet more likely to be thefinal outcome in groups that are differentiated on some status characteristic that leads to differential likelihood of staying with one's own initial choice. Third, cooperative allocation of status position is more likely to occur in these groups than competitive position allocation.