In the modern world, most of that decisions should be made by a group instead of a
single individual. As pointed out by Stasser and Dietz-Uhler [1] even though group
is far from perfect, their choice, judgment, and solutions are generally better than
individuals.
Individual decision making has been studied intensively in many fields,
including psychology, economics, politics, and so on [2, 3]. Group decision
making, however, is relatively a newer and less matured subject compared to the
studies of individual decision making. Group decision making is more complex,
since it is both involving the information processing by its member individually and
the social process between the members. This social process is not just including
information exchange between the members but also how each member influences
on other members’ agreement towards the group decision.
Reaching a consensus in a group decision making is not just the norm of the
group, but also triggered by human’s natural response against cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance happens when group members discover that they do not agree
with other members [4]. This is such an unpleasant state that people are motivated
to take steps to reduce it [5]. Some of the steps done by the members are changing
their own position (conform) or trying to change other members’ position (influence). These processes sometimes happen unconsciously because the nature of
social influence is very complex [6, p. 221].
In this paper, the dynamics of conforming and influencing process in group
decision making is observed. Even though conformity and influence are affected by
many situational characteristics [6, p. 211], in this paper it is argued that in general,
it can be divided into rational and non-rational influence. This research aims to find
the pattern of rational and non-rational influence in several short decision making
discussions.
2 Theoretical Perspective
To make a good decision, group members should thoroughly and carefully consider
as much information as possible relevant to the problem. When a person makes a
decision as an individual, however, a heuristic approach is usually used due to
human’s limited cognitive ability. One often relies on simple, fast, and
easy-to-access heuristics [7]. This situation also happens when a group makes a
decision. Even though there are more resources to process information, group
members still need to rely on heuristics such as other people’s opinion instead of
information from actual sources.
To illustrate the group decision making process and observe the social influence,
input-process-output model is used. The model is explained in the following
subsection.
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D. Mahardhika et al.
single individual. As pointed out by Stasser and Dietz-Uhler [1] even though group
is far from perfect, their choice, judgment, and solutions are generally better than
individuals.
Individual decision making has been studied intensively in many fields,
including psychology, economics, politics, and so on [2, 3]. Group decision
making, however, is relatively a newer and less matured subject compared to the
studies of individual decision making. Group decision making is more complex,
since it is both involving the information processing by its member individually and
the social process between the members. This social process is not just including
information exchange between the members but also how each member influences
on other members’ agreement towards the group decision.
Reaching a consensus in a group decision making is not just the norm of the
group, but also triggered by human’s natural response against cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance happens when group members discover that they do not agree
with other members [4]. This is such an unpleasant state that people are motivated
to take steps to reduce it [5]. Some of the steps done by the members are changing
their own position (conform) or trying to change other members’ position (influence). These processes sometimes happen unconsciously because the nature of
social influence is very complex [6, p. 221].
In this paper, the dynamics of conforming and influencing process in group
decision making is observed. Even though conformity and influence are affected by
many situational characteristics [6, p. 211], in this paper it is argued that in general,
it can be divided into rational and non-rational influence. This research aims to find
the pattern of rational and non-rational influence in several short decision making
discussions.
2 Theoretical Perspective
To make a good decision, group members should thoroughly and carefully consider
as much information as possible relevant to the problem. When a person makes a
decision as an individual, however, a heuristic approach is usually used due to
human’s limited cognitive ability. One often relies on simple, fast, and
easy-to-access heuristics [7]. This situation also happens when a group makes a
decision. Even though there are more resources to process information, group
members still need to rely on heuristics such as other people’s opinion instead of
information from actual sources.
To illustrate the group decision making process and observe the social influence,
input-process-output model is used. The model is explained in the following
subsection.
280
D. Mahardhika et al.