Group polarization is a phenomenon in which moderate attitudes or opinions espoused by a social group tend to become more extreme in the course of interactions and discussions within the group. Using a modified form of the group polarization paradigm, the present study examined the conditions under which group polarization or related phenomena may operate within correctional treatment or discussion groups to inadvertently foster the amplification of procriminal attitudes or beliefs. Inmates at a correctional treatment facility were assigned to small discussion groups on the basis of their pre-experimental scores on psychometric tests measuring either identification with the inmate code (High vs. Low Inmate Solidarity) or antisocial/prosocial personality traits (High vs. Low Criminality). Each group then engaged in brief discussions of (a) topics preselected to elicit or trigger categorizations along a prosocial-procriminal dimension ("prototypical" topics), and (b) neutral topics. Group-mediated attitudinal shifts were affected by both the type of group composition and by the discussion topic. Only homogeneous groups of High Inmate Solidarity subjects showed significant strengthening of procriminal attitudes and this was the case only for discussions of prototypical topics, not for neutral topics. All other group compositions tended to exhibit shifts toward the mid-point of the rating (i.e., more neutral or ambivalent post-discussion attitudes), regardless of the type of topic discussed. The results are interpreted as providing evidence for Self-Categorization Theory, which posits that group-mediated attitude change is a phenomenon of conformity to local ingroup norms--representing what group members perceive to be the group consensus--and factors influencing the salience of ingroup-outgroup categorizations or group identity. The clinical implications of these findings for correctional treatment groups and implications for future research are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/10143 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Fortin, Sylvie. |
| Contributors | Baxter, David J., |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 190 p. |
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