Heymans Colloquium - dr. K. Sassenberg- Groups with defensive members perform worse.

LECTURER Prof. Kai Sassenberg (Professor at University of Tübingen, Germany)

TITLE Groups with defensive members perform worse: The impact of goals and regulatory focus on the confirmation bias in group decision making

DATE & TIME Friday, 20 September 2013, 10.00 – 11.30 hrs

LOCATION Room M.0074, Munting building, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, Groningen

ABSTRACT Making good decisions as a group requires the consideration of information provided during the discussion, but individuals’ evaluation bias (i.e., discounting of information contradicting and appreciation of information supporting members’ initial preference) works against this. The current research studied motivational preconditions of this bias. It was predicted that group members striving with a prevention focus for individual goals show a stronger evaluation bias than group members with a promotion focus and an individual goal or a group goal with either a promotion or a prevention focus. Evidence supporting this notion and demonstrating that the evaluation bias is indeed associated with lower memory for critical information and lower group performance is reported. This research suggests that group goals facilitate group decision performance – in particular in contexts inducing a prevention focus (e.g., in case of a threat). Implications for self-regul! ation du ring individual and group action are discussed.

For more information you may contact dr. T. (Toon) Kuppens, email address: t.kuppens rug.nl