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Group Discussion and Judgment

  • Chapter
Basic Group Processes

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Social Psychology ((SSSOC))

Abstract

The influence of group discussion on individual judgments and group decisions is one of the oldest problems in the experimental study of small groups (Bechterev & DeLange, 1924; Burtt, 1920; Marston, 1924). Early interest was focused primarily on the quality of group versus individual products, that is, on the question are groups better than individuals? Attention has turned more recently to examining judgmental shifts per se, without regard to improvement or decline in quality. We will be concerned primarily with changes induced by discussion, and will not deal at length with the perplexing question of whether the changes are for the better. The judgments and decisions with which we will deal are those where alternatives are along a bipolar, unidimensional scale of some sort, for example, “How large should the damage award be in a civil trial?”

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Authors
  1. Martin F. Kaplan
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  2. Charles E. Miller
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Texas-Arlington, Room 313 Life Science Building, Arlington, Texas, 76019, USA

    Paul B. Paulus

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Kaplan, M.F., Miller, C.E. (1983). Group Discussion and Judgment. In: Paulus, P.B. (eds) Basic Group Processes. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5578-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5578-9_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-5580-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5578-9

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