Group influences upon preferences for personal protection: A simulation study

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Abstract

To explore the possible influences that work groups have upon their members' safety-related behavior, this research simulated small-group discussions of an industrial safety issue. The experimental task required the 96 subjects to select, from a range of seven graded options, the level of personal protection they wished to adopt while performing a series of mechanical operations under adverse conditions. Subjects made their own private selections of personal protection, contributed to a group consensus selection, and then made a final private selection. As predicted, subjects' preferred self-protective behaviors shifted after group discussion, becoming simultaneously more risky, more homogenous, and more confident. However, little support was obtained for a hypothesized polarization of preferences following group interaction.

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    He holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Applied Psychology from the University of Melbourne, and is a member of the Australian Psychological Society. His research and consultancy interests are in the areas of group dynamics, organizational stress, and health and safety issues. Over the past decade, he has taught numerous courses on the psychological aspects of industrial safety at certificate, undergraduate and postgraduate levels throughout Australia.

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