Group Process, Group Decision, Group Action

Groups are a key part of human experience. Whether the group is a family, a street gang, a work group, an ethnic minority or a network of friends, group membership and influence represents one of the most powerful forces shaping our feelings, judgements and behaviours. While group processes can lead to aggressive and destructive outbursts, so too are they a source of love, achievement, nurturance, loyalty and sacrifice. In this book the authors share the excitement and challenge of conducting research on groups. They familiarize the reader with the theoretical perspectives and data that provide us with the means of interpreting group phenomena. They place special emphasis on several aspects of group experience that they feel are particularly significant: social influence, group productivity, group decision-making, and intergroup conflict and prejudice; and they explore the significance for the application of group theory in our everyday lives.

Robert A. Baron (Ph.D., Iowa, 1968) is the Dean R. Wellington Professor of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has held faculty appointments at Purdue University, University of Minnesota, University of Texas, University of South Carolina, University of Washington, Princeton University, and Oxford University (Visiting Fellow, 1982). He has been a Department Chair (1987-1993) and Interim Dean (2001-2002). Baron is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Charter Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS).

Prof. Baron has published more than one hundred articles and forty chapters in edited volumes. He is the author or co-author of more than forty-five books in the fields of management and psychology including Social Psychology (11th edition.) and Behavior in Organizations (9th ed.). Prof. Baron holds three U.S. patents and was founder, President, and CEO of Innovative Environmental Products, Inc. (1993-2000). His current research focuses primarily on cognitive and social factors that play a role in entrepreneurs' success.