Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Framing of Collective Action in Groups

马里兰达大学的杰弗里·卢卡斯·马雷克·内森·波萨德社会交换理论的关键假设是，行为者更愿意在交换关系中最大化自己的价值回报。价值的一个常见定义是某种物质回报的积累(例如，利润筹码或金钱)。社会交换的情感理论扩大了这一定义，将情感利益包括在内。换句话说，个人也更喜欢在交换关系中最大限度地提高自己的积极情绪。这些感觉可以在交换伙伴之间产生信任和凝聚力。这项研究研究的是，将群体贡献定义为关于他人的决定，而不是关于个人自身利益的决定，是否可以产生某些有利于社会的结果。社会理论家提出，金钱和情感奖励都可以激励个人参与集体行动。这种慷慨的结果是个体成员之间的信任、情感承诺和凝聚力。这项研究调查了在竞争和合作的群体背景下，以不同方式框定集体行动是否也会影响这些亲社会的结果。这个项目的中心假设是，将小组任务呈现为关于他人的决策可以促进集体行动，无论小组成员将彼此视为合作者还是竞争对手。更广泛的影响这项研究可以帮助我们更好地理解参照群体的集体行动如何在竞争和合作的群体背景下产生社会结果。这一发现对通过促进群体集体行为而发挥作用的各种社会组织具有一定的借鉴意义。例如，在竞争经济环境中运作的公司工作团队可能会受益于从群体的角度来框架其员工的集体行动，而不是作为每个员工的个人贡献。通过将成员的贡献定义为从集体开始而不是从个人开始，可以增加社会支持小组的凝聚力。这项研究还有一个培训部分，至少有五到七名本科生参加数据收集，以学习社会和行为科学研究的实践。

Jeffrey LucasMarek Nathan PosardUniversity of MarylandA key assumption for theories of social exchange is that actors prefer to maximize their own valued rewards in exchange relationships. One common definition of value is the accumulation of some material reward (e.g. profit chips or money). The affect theory of social exchange broadens this definition to include emotional benefits. In other words, individuals also prefer to maximize their level of positive feelings during exchange relationships. These feelings can generate trust and cohesion between exchange partners. The research studies whether framing group contributions as a decision about others, rather than about one's self-interest, can generate certain pro-social outcomes. Social theorists have proposed that both monetary and emotional rewards can motivate individuals to engage in collective action. The result of this generosity is trust, affective commitment, and cohesion between individual group members. This research investigates if framing collective action in different ways can also affect these pro-social outcomes within competitive and cooperative group contexts. The central hypothesis of this project is that presenting group tasks as a decision about others can promote collective action irrespective of whether group members perceive each other as collaborators or competitors. Broader Impact This research could help us better understand how framing collective actions with reference to the group produces social outcomes within competitive and cooperative group contexts. Findings have implications for a variety of social organizations that function by promoting collective behavior in groups. Corporate work teams, for example, that function within a competitive economic context may benefit by framing collective action of their employees from the perspective of groups rather than as an individual contribution from each employee. Cohesion within a social support group may increase by framing member contributions as starting from the collective instead of individuals. This research also has a training component with at least five to seven undergraduate students participating in data collection to learn the practice of social and behavioral science research.