A motivational approach to information exchange in groups

如果(a)成员拥有与决策相关的不同信息（所谓的非共享信息），并且(b)所有可获得的群体信息建议的决策与每个成员可获得的信息不同，则群体有可能做出比个人更好的决策。对这类情况的研究在隐藏概况范式（Stasser & Titus, 1985）中进行了操作，表明群体提到共享信息（即所有成员都可以获得的信息）的频率高于非共享信息。由此产生的决策质量不是最优的。研究表明，除了早期研究关注的随机和信息处理解释外，群体成员的动机也起着重要作用。因此，本研究的目的是研究隐藏轮廓范式下群体决策过程中动机的影响。该研究项目测试了一种将目标和策略视为关键因素的自我调节方法。第一个资助期的结果表明，个体的信息加工（即对与自己的初始决策不一致的信息的评价和对新信息的记忆）和决策质量受到群体成员自我调节的影响。更准确地说，以安全为导向的自我调节策略（即预防焦点）和个人目标（即在讨论后努力获得积极形象和良好的个人决策）导致更多的信息处理偏差和更低的决策质量（与群体目标和渴望策略/促进焦点相比）。到目前为止，还没有发现目标和策略对信息交换的影响，也没有发现这些动机因素对决策质量的提高。现有的少数研究表明，在群体中有效地实施策略需要满足某些条件。因此，这些成功实施群体策略的先决条件是当前研究建议的重点。更准确地说，策略和组上下文需要如何精确地联系起来，以确保策略在组上下文中应用。将考虑两种策略（反事实思维和监管焦点）以及将该群体的策略联系起来的三个条件：(a)策略与社会背景下的行为之间的联系，(b)表明其他群体成员激活了相同策略的信息（即社会调整）和(c)作为满足连通性需求的体验共享策略激活（即I-sharing）。

Groups have the potential to commit better decisions than individuals, if (a) the member hold different Information that is relevant for the decision (so-called unshared information) and (b) all the information available to the group suggests a different decision than the information available to each member. Research on this sort of situations that are operationalized in the hidden profile paradigm (Stasser & Titus, 1985), has demonstrated that groups mention shared information (i.e. information available to all group members) more often than unshared information. Resulting from this decision quality is not optimal. It has been suggested that beside the stochastic and information processing explanations earlier research focused on, the motivation of group members plays an important role. Therefore, it is the aim of the current research project to study the impact of motivation during group decision making in the hidden profile paradigm. The research program tests a self-regulation approach which considers goals and strategies as key factors. Results of the first funding period suggest that the individual information processing (i.e., the evaluation of information that is inconsistent with the own initial decision and the memory for new information) as well as the decision quality are affected by group members self-regulation. To be more precise, a security oriented self-regulation strategy (i.e., a prevention focus) and individual goals (i.e., striving for a positive image and a good personal decision after the discussion) result in more biased information processing and lower decision quality (compared to group goals and an eager strategy / a promotion focus). So far no impact of goals and strategies on information exchange and no improvement of decision quality as an outcome of these motivational factors were found. The few existing studies suggest that implementing strategies effectively in groups requires the fulfillment of certain conditions. These preconditions for the successful implementation of strategies in groups are therefore the focus of the current research proposal. To be more precise, how exactly the strategies and the group context need to linked, to secure that the strategies are applied in the group context. Two strategies (counterfactual thinking and regulatory focus) and three conditions linking the strategies this the group will be taken into account: (a) the connection between the strategy and behavior in the social context, (b) information suggesting that the other group members got the same strategy activated (i.e., social tuning) and (c) shared activation of the strategy as an experience that satisfies the need for connectedness (i.e., I-sharing).