Our Research

The Groups & War lab studies small group dynamics, with particular attention to group formation and the impact of group identification, and the psychology of war, with particular attention to the evolution of social capacities that help men and women cope with the challenges to survival and reproductive success posed by war.

Topics of recent papers produced by the lab include gender relations in the military, the evolution of heroism,  the role of friendship in dissolving the social anxiety of outgroup interactions, sources of cohesion in groups of different sizes, and using complexity to improve the  effectiveness of groups in health care. 

Ongoing projects in the lab are investigating the following topics:

  • How sex differences in group identification affect competitive versus cooperative behavior in social dilemmas
  • How the choice of tactics affects the relative success of US soldiers' attempts to influence the behavior of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan
  • The sources of resiliency against combat stress
  • How the orientation of group leaders affects a group's resilience and adaptability in adverse situations
  • What components lead people to view a behavior as heroic
  • The conditions under which groups intervene more or less actively to protect a member who is the target of relational aggression
  • Differences in the emergence and stabilization of influence structures in small groups based on gender composition