Michael G. Cruz

Influence, appraisals, and emotions in close relationships

Influence messages can be characterized along two dimensions: explicitness and dominance. These dimensions were cast as causally antecedent to cognitive appraisals which, in turn, were expected to shape emotional response. Two studies were conducted in which participants were asked to assume the role of message target and then view a video of an influence message. The first study made use of a gain‐assistance goal, and the second was constructed around a give‐advice goal. Whereas both studies show strong support for the appraisal‐emotion link, the effect of message form on appraisals was weaker and more complex than expected. The results imply that only a subset of the appraisals are relevant to influence attempts in close relationships. Furthermore, dominance and explicitness showed unique and nonparallel effects on appraisals. Implications for appraisal theory, politeness theory, and interpersonal influence are discussed.

The Impact of Group Size and Proportion of Shared Information on the Exchange and Integration of Information in Groups

Hidden profiles exist when individual group members hold all the information favoring one decision alternative but only a subset of the information favoring another alternative. Given a hidden profile, group members often fail to exchange information completely and consequently make poor decisions. Circumstances in which groups perform poorly are worrisome because groups frequently are asked to make decisions. Conditions that improve group performance on hidden profiles were sought. Group information sharing and decision-making effectiveness were found to be higher in small groups with a low percentage of shared information, and lower when groups either were large or shared a high percentage of information (N = 80 groups). Greater information sharing, however, did not correlate with longer discussions. The proportion of shared information affected bolstering and discounting of information. Qualitative observations of group behavior are presented, and the implications of the results for information sharing and decision making are discussed.

Examining the symptoms of groupthink and retrospective sensemaking

The symptoms of groupthink traditionally have been treated as part of a single process associated with poor decision making in groups. The present study explores the symptoms of groupthink as reflecting two distinct processes that vary depending on the confidence individuals have in the decision favored by the group. It is further argued that past research using qualitative approaches may produce an illusory correlation among the groupthink symptoms because of retrospective sensemaking occurring when individuals have evidence they have made a poor decision. An experiment, providing support for each of these contentions, is performed.

The Relative Effectiveness of a Direct Request Message and a Pregiving Message on Friends and Strangers

This study examined the role of the norm of reciprocity in mediating the relative effect of compliance-gaining message type on compliance in interactions involving friends and strangers. Subjects received either a direct request to purchase raffle tickets or received the request after having a favor done for them by a confederate, a pregiving message. Results indicate that friends comply more with requests than strangers and that their compliance is constant across message types. Among strangers, the pregiving message produced more compliance than the direct request.

An attributional analysis of compliance‐gaining interactions

We investigated the applicability of Weiners (1986) attribution theory to compliance‐gaining interactions. Participants telephoned trained confederates and attempted to persuade those confederates to honor a previous commitment to participate in a research project. Participants’ persistence and strategy use were expected to vary depending on the locus, stability, and controllability of the excuses for not complying offered by the targets (confederates). Transcripts of telephone interactions and participant ratings were analyzed. Attributional dimensions did affect participants’ persistence at seeking compliance, use of particular strategies, and perceptions of target sincerity. Implications for compliance gaining and for attribution theory are discussed.

Social influence in groups: A comparative application of relational framing theory and the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

Normative influence, as opposed to informational influence, in groups often diminishes decision-making outcomes. Despite the important effect of social influence on group performance, prior research on social influence in groups has largely focused on variable analytic conditions that affect influence, instead of on theoretical explanations of the use of social influence. This paper addressed that limitation by applying Relational Framing Theory (Dillard, Solomon, & Samp, 1996) and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) to social influence in groups. A 3 (group interaction goal: task, group, control)×2 (involvement: high or control) factorial design experiment was conducted to test the applicability of these two theories. Results demonstrated that neither theory predicted the occurrence of normative and informational statements in discussion. Additional tests, however, showed greater general support for Relational Framing Theory.

Role of social loafing in predeliberation decision making.

The relationship between social loafing and decision making was examined in an individual predeliberation thinking task. Participants (N = 189) were asked to read information and make decisions ostensibly in order to make a future individual or group decision. Decision type (intellective or judgmental) and anticipated group size (individuals or 4 or 8 members) were manipulated to examine their effect on information recall. Individuals who anticipated working alone or who believed they were making intellective decisions recalled more information than did those who anticipated working in groups or who believed they were making judgmental decisions.

Pattern violations and perceptions of deception

This research hypothesizes that observers associate deceptiveness with inconsistency in nonverbal behaviors (i.e., pattern violations) rather than with the mere presence of certain nonverbal cues. To test the hypothesis, two studies were designed to assess the impact of witness behavior on observer ratings of deceptiveness and nervousness. Participants observed mock witness testimony pertaining to an insurance claim investigation. During the testimony a witness enacted low, inconsistent, or high levels of deceptive nonverbal cues. In each study, inconsistent levels of nonverbal cues produced higher ratings of witness’ deceptiveness than did high or low levels of deceptive nonverbal cues. The relationship between perceptions of deceptiveness and nervousness was also examined.

Is it always a matter of perspective ? Construct differentiation and variability in attributions about compliance gaining

This study investigates whether attributions made while observing compliance‐gaining interactions always are a matter of perspective. We propose that Construct Differentiation moderates the effects of perspective on causal judgments, such that highly differentiated individuals are more responsive than less differentiated persons to information from interaction that their psychological perspective makes salient. Participants viewed three videotaped compliance‐gaining interactions, one each while taking the perspective of the message source, the message target, and a third‐party observer. Then they rated causes for the targets actions and the targets intent. As predicted, Construct Differentiation was positively associated with intrapersonal variability in ratings of causal judgments across the three perspectives, and positively associated with actor/observer differences when taking the perspective of message source versus target. Implications for interpersonal communication, constructivism, and attributi...