Imagine: A Promise Scholars and McNair Scholars Journal

Previous studies have investigated the importance of group identification and the negative implications that can follow, such as depersonalization and unwavering loyalty to a  group’s attitudes and beliefs. The study compares the differences between support-or-conflict conditions and leadership-or-non-leadership conditions, with a focus on the exhibited behavior of the group members and the emotions they experience. We predicted an interaction effect of Support x Leader, Conflict x Non-leader, and Conflict x Leader conditions. We conducted a 2 x 2 (support/Conflict x Leader/Non-leader) factorial ANOVA to determine the effects of each dependent variable and analyze whether there were any main effects on participants emotions, group-supportive behaviors, or any possible interaction effects. We found that participants in the Support x Leader condition had the strongest positive emotions toward their group, participants placed in the Conflict and Non-leader condition resulted in lower group-supportive behavior, and participants in the Conflict and Leader condition demonstrated weaker positive emotions compared to those in the Support and Leader condition. Overall, our results have important implications since people form similar connections not only in teams, clubs, and organizations but also in the workplace, volunteering, etc. It is important to set up a supportive environment that allows others to be connected, to feel a sense of belonging, and to self-identify with their group.