Group processes and social influence - Lam, Van der Vegt, Walter & Huang (2011)

3 important questions on Group processes and social influence - Lam, Van der Vegt, Walter & Huang (2011)

When is a higher performing team meber positively associated with interpersonal harming behavior?

In teams with less cooperative goals, but only when expectations of future performance similarity to that member were low.

When does interpersonal harming behavior happen?

If there is an upward comparison together with low expectations for the individual. When the ”inferior” person faces a superior teammate that person will probably feel unable to match his or hers performance and will therefore harm, maybe because of envy.

What is downward comparison?

When you compare yourself to someone that is not as good as you. When individuals contrast themselves, downward comparison is self-affirmative. When individuals assimilate themselves, downward comparison may be threatening due to the prospect of falling prey to an equivalent, unhappy fate. I understand this as that you don’t want to be ”as bad” as the person that is not doing as good as you.

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