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SUMMARY:Having a Voice in Your Group: Field Experiments on Behavioral and 
 Attitudinal Changes - Dr Sherry Wu (UCLA)
DTSTART:20210602T150000Z
DTEND:20210602T160000Z
UID:TALK160876@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:David Young
DESCRIPTION:One of the founding assumptions of social psychology is that g
 roups influence human behavior—in particular\, that an attempt to change
  a person’s behavior will fail in the long run if it does not involve he
 r group. There has been enormous research interest in how groups motivate 
 behavior change\, but debates exist about the types of group structures th
 at motivate change\, and causal evidence with real world groups is rare. I
  conduct two field experiments in different contexts and with different po
 pulations to test the influence of increasing the participatory nature of 
 groups over long-term behavior and attitudes. Study 1 experiments with 65 
 work group (1\,792 workers) in a multinational factory in China. Study 2 e
 xperiments with 32 staff groups (172 workers) in an elite university in th
 e US. In each experiment\, half of the groups were randomly assigned to a 
 20-minute participatory meeting once per week for six weeks\, in which wor
 kers were invited to speak and supervisors mandated to listen. The other h
 alf of the groups continued with status quo meetings. Participatory meetin
 gs led to a 10.6% increase in treatment factory workers’ productivity\, 
 which endured for 9 weeks after the experiment. I found that the frequency
  of voice within the group\, rather than information or goals\, drove the 
 behavioral change. The treatment also led workers to be less authoritarian
  and more critical about societal authority and justice\, and more willing
  to participate in political\, social\, and familial decision-making. Resu
 lts in study 2 replicated such findings. This research highlights the powe
 r of participatory group dynamics in changing behavior and generalized att
 itudes across different contexts\, both for theoretical understanding and 
 pragmatic intervention in behavioral and attitudinal change toward social 
 institutions and hierarchy.\n\nDr Sherry Wu is Assistant Professor of Mana
 gement and Organizations at UCLA Anderson School of Management\n\nZoom lin
 k available here: https://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/study/current-postgraduate
 s/spss-joining-details
LOCATION:Venue to be confirmed
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