Jane Sell
Biographic Data
| ID | 3630487 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jane Sell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jane |
| FAMILY NAME | Sell |
| SIGNATURE | SELL J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Texas A&M University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1756-8850 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 45 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 143 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 45 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Developing Theories in the Social Sciences: Methods and Applications
Progress in the social sciences entails developing and improving theoretical understanding of social phenomena and improving methods for collecting and analyzing data. Theories organize what we know or expect to learn about phenomena and methods provide the evidential basis for the theories. While we have witnessed great strides in the development of statistical methods, there is less information for developing theories. In Developing Theories in…
Winning or Losing? Intergroup Competition and Racially Diverse Groups
Status characteristics and expectation states theory (SC-EST) describes how general beliefs about capability contribute to disproportionate rates of power, prestige, and resource outcomes between group members. Similarly, endorsements for competition stem from a general belief that it is useful for identifying which people are more capable and therefore more deserving of limited or highly valued resources. This paper investigates the relationship…
Apologies, Cheap Talk, and Silence: How People Think About Reputations in Public Goods Scenarios
Objective Public goods are available to all regardless of whether they contribute to the goods. Because public goods do not exclude those who do not contribute, the danger is the good will not be provided. While many solutions to this dilemma focus on changing material incentives, there are also nonmaterial solutions such as communication. We ask if the type of communication from a group member with an established noncooperative reputation from o…
Measuring Team Hierarchy During High-Stakes Clinical Decision Making: Development and Validation of a New Behavioral Observation Method
Conservation scholars' perspectives on the morality of trophy hunting for the sake of conservation
Trophy hunting is one of the most contentious issues in recent biodiversity conservation discourse, eliciting opposition and support for the practice. Ethical concerns are often at the heart of the debate. To investigate moral views about trophy hunting, we conducted an online survey of randomly selected scholars worldwide who had published on biodiversity conservation ( n = 2315). Scholars expressed divergent views on the moral acceptability of …
Racial and Ethnic Status Distinctions and Discrimination: The Effects of Prior Contact and Group Interaction
Although racial and ethnic inequalities are consistently reproduced on both macro and micro levels, intergroup contact theory (ICT) and status characteristics and expectation states theory (SC-EST) identify opportunities for intervention. SC-EST most often limits its scope to examining deferential behavior and attitudes toward out-group members in specific interactions; ICT has a broader scope, including measures of attitudes, affect, and behavio…
Groups, Inequality, and Synergy
We combine insights from the sociological and psychological traditions of social psychology to examine how status inequality may affect group performance. Specifically, we examine how synergy, that is, performance gains produced through group interaction, is realized in ethnically diverse groups. Research suggests that diverse work groups struggle to capitalize on the strengths of all group members, and in turn, achieve synergy less frequently th…
Social Dilemmas
A social dilemma is any setting in which there is a conflict between individual short‐term incentives and overall group incentives. Social dilemmas are pervasive and appear in all levels of interaction, from small face‐to‐face interactions to large‐scale global situations. The study of social dilemmas is prominent in all of the social sciences, and investigations have involved all types of methods ranging from case studies to experiments. Common …
Definitions and the Development of Theory in Social Psychology
Formal definitions specify what is necessary and sufficient for the identification of a particular term. These formal definitions use precise language and do not admit contradictions; they are exact class. There are multiple advantages of exact class definitions. They enable us to confidently use deductive arguments so we can ensure that the terms in the premises match the terms in the conclusion. They prevent sloppiness and circularity of logic.…
Methodological Advances and Applications in Social Psychology: Introduction to the Special Issue
Laboratory Experiments
This entry defines laboratory experiments, describes their historical context, and contrasts them with other research designs. Small groups and group processes research traditions have produced the bulk of experimental research in sociology. Useful experiments are appropriate to the research questions, test explicit theories, and provide clear data. Ethical considerations include care for participants' welfare, minimizing deception, fully explain…
Disruptions in Task Groups
Objective This research addresses the effect of interruptions on task groups; interactions and individual group members’ feelings about the task and the group itself. The interruptions that we consider are not generated from within the group, but have their source outside the group. Emphasizing the theories of structural ritualization, relational cohesion, and productive exchange, we predict that interruptions that have positive, negative, or neu…
Developing and Assessing Intercoder Reliability in Studies of Group Interaction
Although group interaction is a rich source of data, it offers many challenges for analysis. We discuss how pretesting can solve many coding and reliability issues before the actual data collection and analysis. We also consider how coding schemes can be developed, how coders can be trained, and how coder reliability can be ascertained. We examine the properties of different estimates of intercoder reliability and detail how these relate to decis…
Groups and Institutions, Structures and Processes
This chapter contains sections titled: Themes and Contrasts Theoretical and Empirical Foundations in the Study of Groups Two Early Research Programs: Structuring and Conformity Contemporary Research Programs Conclusion References
A Structural Social Psychological View of Gender Differences in Cooperation
Introduction to Deception Debate
he debate that follows is part of an ongo-ing discussion about the meaning andimportance of deception in research.While the authors emphasize experimentalresearch, deception is an issue in all social-science methodologies. Such debates areimportant signals that our field considers howchanging technology, research questions, andrelationships reflect on and potentially modifyour understanding of what is critical for bothresearch and ethics. From th…
Theory and Experimentation in the Social Sciences
Social Dilemmas
A social dilemma is any setting in which there is a conflict between individual short‐term incentives and overall group incentives. Social dilemmas are pervasive and appear in all levels of interaction, from small face‐to‐face interactions to large‐scale global situations. The study of social dilemmas is prominent in all of the social sciences, and investigations have involved all types of methods ranging from case studies to experiments. Common …
Deputy Editors' Note
In a departure from the norm, the outgoing deputy editors (Owens, Robinson, Sell), offer this deputy editors' note for the final issue of 2006, some two months after the untimely death of Editor Spencer E. Cahill. Dr. Cahill and his editorial team's tenure on the journal ends on December 31, 2006
Conflict, Power, and Status in Groups
Using Task Definition to Modify Racial Inequality Within Task Groups
This study developed and tested a particular strategy to modify racial inequality in task groups. The strategy is suggested within an expectation states framework: If a group task is presented as one comprised of many skills that do not necessarily relate to one another, this complexity will decrease the effects of race. Thirty groups of three women, one black woman, and two white women were randomly assigned to either a condition in which the gr…
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Public Good and Resource Good Settings
Jane Sell, Zeng-Yin Chen, Pam Hunter-Holmes, Anna C. Johansson, A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Public Good and Resource Good Settings, Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 285-297
Reproducing Social Structure in Task Groups: The Role of Structural Ritualization
The reproduction of social structure occurs with regularity even when it is not in the interest of the group, the individual, or the society This article uses the theories of structural ritualization and expectation states to examine a specific case of social reproduction: the reproduction of hierarchical group procedure and practices in small task groups. The experimental test examines forty-four task groups under three different conditions: a b…
The Maintenance of Cooperation: Expectations of Future Interaction and the Trigger of Group Punishment
Group Processes and Structures: A Theoretical Integration
This book integrates what is known about group processes and the structures they produce. It examines the interrelations of processes and structures in the contexts of group development, group stability, orderly change in the group, and disintegration of the group. The processes and structures considered are attraction and consensus; prestige, power, and economic reward distribution; authority, trust, and influence; and justice in the allocation …
Using Task Definition to Modify Racial Inequality Within Task Groups
This study developed and tested a particular strategy to modify racial inequality in task groups. The strategy is suggested within an expectation states framework: If a group task is presented as one comprised of many skills that do not necessarily relate to one another, this complexity will decrease the effects of race. Thirty groups of three women, one black woman, and two white women were randomly assigned to either a condition in which the gr…
Gender, Strategies, and Contributions to Public Goods
This study examines factors affecting cooperation in public goods settings involving relatively small groups. In particular, the gender composition of the group and the history of the group's level of cooperation are investigated. Three game-theoretical predictions are posited. Using expectation states theory and social identity theory, I offer two different sets of hypotheses regarding gender identity. A 3x2 experimental design tests the predict…
Developing and Assessing Intercoder Reliability in Studies of Group Interaction
Although group interaction is a rich source of data, it offers many challenges for analysis. We discuss how pretesting can solve many coding and reliability issues before the actual data collection and analysis. We also consider how coding schemes can be developed, how coders can be trained, and how coder reliability can be ascertained. We examine the properties of different estimates of intercoder reliability and detail how these relate to decis…
The Role of the Experiment in the Social Sciences
Laboratory research is often criticized for its artificiality and its lack of random sampling. These criticisms are examined within the context of two approaches to social scientific knowledge: the descriptive and the formal. The goal of a descriptive theory is the explication of social events and processes as they exist at one point or specific points in time, while the goat of a formal theory is the development of law-like statements. We argue …
A Structural Social Psychological View of Gender Differences in Cooperation
Levels of Information and Contributions to Public Goods
The provision of public goods is a social dilemma in which individuals must decide whether to contribute to the group or not to contribute and therefore free ride. We posit that if individuals have information about how each of the other group members has contributed, free riding will occur less frequently than if they do not have this information. If individuals know how others have contributed, they are able to employ trigger strategies. Three …
Are Women More Cooperative Than Men in Social Dilemmas
Contradictory results regarding sex effects in social dilemmas have been obtained. In some studies women have contributed more than men; in some studies men have contributed more than women; in some studies no sex differences have appeared. This paper attempts to reconcile these findings. We examine whether the participants' sex, the sex composition of the group, or the resources involved in the social dilemma lead to sex differences in contribut…
The effects of competition on allocators' preferences for contributive and retributive justice rules
A 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design was employed to test the effects of competition on justice rule preferences in contributive and retributive settings. The factors included task structure (cooperative versus competitive); allocation (contributive versus retributive); and input information (no information, ability only, effort only). The data showed that, in contribution conditions, competition alone was insufficient to produce changes in allocation pr…
Total Performance Inconsistency and Status Generalization: An Expectation States Formulation
Past research has documented the fact that status characteristics organize group interaction. Freese and Cohen (1973) specified a condition under which a performance characteristic would eliminate the effect of a differentiating diffuse status characteristic. The present research extends the Freese-Cohen theory to specify a condition under which a differentiating diffuse status characteristic will eliminate the effect of a performance characteris…
Reproducing Social Structure in Task Groups: The Role of Structural Ritualization
The reproduction of social structure occurs with regularity even when it is not in the interest of the group, the individual, or the society This article uses the theories of structural ritualization and expectation states to examine a specific case of social reproduction: the reproduction of hierarchical group procedure and practices in small task groups. The experimental test examines forty-four task groups under three different conditions: a b…
The Effect of Equating Status Characteristics on the Generalization Process
The generalization of information for decision making is a major concern for social psychology. This paper investigates how such generalization is affected by information that equates the actors involved in decision making. We find that when the information that equates actors is diffuse status (age, sex, occupation) it does not seem to combine with or affect information that differentiates actors. Also, it appears that when actors are ranked on …
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Public Good and Resource Good Settings
Jane Sell, Zeng-Yin Chen, Pam Hunter-Holmes, Anna C. Johansson, A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Public Good and Resource Good Settings, Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 285-297
Comparing Public Goods with Common Pool Resources: Three Experiments
We examine whether public goods and common pool resources generate equivalent levels of cooperation when the payoffs are the same. Two theoretical perspectives seem to contradict each other on the equivalence issue. Prospect theory implies that settings involving common pool resources should generate higher levels of cooperation than settings involving public goods; expected utility theory implies that the two settings should generate the same le…
Definitions and the Development of Theory in Social Psychology
Formal definitions specify what is necessary and sufficient for the identification of a particular term. These formal definitions use precise language and do not admit contradictions; they are exact class. There are multiple advantages of exact class definitions. They enable us to confidently use deductive arguments so we can ensure that the terms in the premises match the terms in the conclusion. They prevent sloppiness and circularity of logic.…
The Maintenance of Cooperation: Expectations of Future Interaction and the Trigger of Group Punishment
Effects of information and motivational orientation on harvest of a declining renewable resource
This article examines how individuals' harvest behavior is affected by their motivational orientation and different types of information regarding a declining renewable resource. We considered individuals who are either "individualistic" or "cooperative" in orientation and hypothesized this orientation is an important and constant influence on harvesting behavior as a renewable resource declines. Further, we hypothesized that whether individuals …
The Marginal Utility of Information: Its Effects upon Decision-Making
This paper specifies how the importance or marginal utility of information can change as a function of both its amount and evaluation. Three simple mathematical models are presented: each describes a different relation between decision-making and the amount and evaluation of information available to actors. The model which best describes the data suggests that it cannot be assumed that information of the same type necessarily has the same weight …
Introduction to Deception Debate
he debate that follows is part of an ongo-ing discussion about the meaning andimportance of deception in research.While the authors emphasize experimentalresearch, deception is an issue in all social-science methodologies. Such debates areimportant signals that our field considers howchanging technology, research questions, andrelationships reflect on and potentially modifyour understanding of what is critical for bothresearch and ethics. From th…
Self-Interested versus Third-Party Allocations of Rewards
Allocations made by third parties are compared to those made by self-interested group members. In addition, three other theoretically relevant factors are considered: the sex composition of the dyad to which the allocations are made, the sex of the high performer in the dyad, and the sex of the allocator. The theoretical setting is characterized by a cooperative task in which effort is the relevant input. As suggested by past studies, allocations…
Racial and Ethnic Status Distinctions and Discrimination: The Effects of Prior Contact and Group Interaction
Although racial and ethnic inequalities are consistently reproduced on both macro and micro levels, intergroup contact theory (ICT) and status characteristics and expectation states theory (SC-EST) identify opportunities for intervention. SC-EST most often limits its scope to examining deferential behavior and attitudes toward out-group members in specific interactions; ICT has a broader scope, including measures of attitudes, affect, and behavio…
The Role of the Experiment in the Social Sciences
Laboratory research is often criticized for its artificiality and its lack of random sampling. These criticisms are examined within the context of two approaches to social scientific knowledge: the descriptive and the formal. The goal of a descriptive theory is the explication of social events and processes as they exist at one point or specific points in time, while the goat of a formal theory is the development of law-like statements. We argue …
In Defense of Microeconomic Theory
The Marginal Utility of Information: Its Effects upon Decision-Making
This paper specifies how the importance or marginal utility of information can change as a function of both its amount and evaluation. Three simple mathematical models are presented: each describes a different relation between decision-making and the amount and evaluation of information available to actors. The model which best describes the data suggests that it cannot be assumed that information of the same type necessarily has the same weight …
Total Performance Inconsistency and Status Generalization: An Expectation States Formulation
Past research has documented the fact that status characteristics organize group interaction. Freese and Cohen (1973) specified a condition under which a performance characteristic would eliminate the effect of a differentiating diffuse status characteristic. The present research extends the Freese-Cohen theory to specify a condition under which a differentiating diffuse status characteristic will eliminate the effect of a performance characteris…
Self-Awareness, Information Utilization, and Social Influence in Cooperative Task Settings
The relation between self-awareness and the utilization of information in cooperative task settings is investigated. Of particular interest is the impact of self-awareness upon actors' decisions to use differentiating status information in task interactions. The experimental findings indicate that self-awareness decreases the importance of the status information. This suggests that self-awareness inhibits actors' ability to monitor the social env…
The Effects of Group Benefits and Type of Distribution Rule on Noncompliance to Legitimate Authority
Norms specifying the allocation of resources have been termed distribution rules. This study investigates factors affecting individuals' noncompliance to distribution rules sanctioned by a legitimate authority. We predict such noncompliance will be more likely when there is group consensus running counter to the legitimate authority rule and the group consensus rule is more beneficial to persons and their groups than is the legitimate authority r…
The Process of Eliminating Status Generalization
A formal theory is developed to describe when decision-making in informal task groups is not affected by group members' status identities. The theory is used to derive functions which express the equivalence of two conditions: one in which a status and a performance variable may have an effect on task decision-making, and one in which only a performance variable may have such an effect. To evaluate the predicted equivalence we examine the decisio…
The Effect of Equating Status Characteristics on the Generalization Process
The generalization of information for decision making is a major concern for social psychology. This paper investigates how such generalization is affected by information that equates the actors involved in decision making. We find that when the information that equates actors is diffuse status (age, sex, occupation) it does not seem to combine with or affect information that differentiates actors. Also, it appears that when actors are ranked on …
The effects of competition on allocators' preferences for contributive and retributive justice rules
A 2 × 2 × 3 factorial design was employed to test the effects of competition on justice rule preferences in contributive and retributive settings. The factors included task structure (cooperative versus competitive); allocation (contributive versus retributive); and input information (no information, ability only, effort only). The data showed that, in contribution conditions, competition alone was insufficient to produce changes in allocation pr…
The Experimental Method and Leisure/Recreation Research: Promoting A More Active Role
Many past critiques have noted that experimental research has been underutilized in the study of leisure and recreation. This paper undertook a content analysis of experimental studies published from 1985 to 1989 which revealed that experiments are still not widely reported in most leisure and recreation journals. It also outlined the potential, purpose and application of experimental methodology and argued that experiments are useful not for des…
Levels of Information and Contributions to Public Goods
The provision of public goods is a social dilemma in which individuals must decide whether to contribute to the group or not to contribute and therefore free ride. We posit that if individuals have information about how each of the other group members has contributed, free riding will occur less frequently than if they do not have this information. If individuals know how others have contributed, they are able to employ trigger strategies. Three …
Advances in Group Processes: A Research Annual, Volume 8
Self-Interested versus Third-Party Allocations of Rewards
Allocations made by third parties are compared to those made by self-interested group members. In addition, three other theoretically relevant factors are considered: the sex composition of the dyad to which the allocations are made, the sex of the high performer in the dyad, and the sex of the allocator. The theoretical setting is characterized by a cooperative task in which effort is the relevant input. As suggested by past studies, allocations…
Are Women More Cooperative Than Men in Social Dilemmas
Contradictory results regarding sex effects in social dilemmas have been obtained. In some studies women have contributed more than men; in some studies men have contributed more than women; in some studies no sex differences have appeared. This paper attempts to reconcile these findings. We examine whether the participants' sex, the sex composition of the group, or the resources involved in the social dilemma lead to sex differences in contribut…
Are inputs sometimes outcomes? Some thoughts on definition in distributive justice
Theoretical Research Programs: Studies in the Growth of Theory
Effects of information and motivational orientation on harvest of a declining renewable resource
This article examines how individuals' harvest behavior is affected by their motivational orientation and different types of information regarding a declining renewable resource. We considered individuals who are either "individualistic" or "cooperative" in orientation and hypothesized this orientation is an important and constant influence on harvesting behavior as a renewable resource declines. Further, we hypothesized that whether individuals …
“Liar, Liar… ”: Cheap Talk and Reputation in Repeated Public Goods Settings
An abstract public goods setting is considered in which individually rational strategies lead to collectively irrational outcomes. Theorists argue that individual reputations can provide an important means for solving repeated versions of that public goods game. Numerous experimental findings also show that preplay communication leads to higher rates of contributions to public goods. The authors investigate whether preplay communication and reput…
Comparing Public Goods with Common Pool Resources: Three Experiments
We examine whether public goods and common pool resources generate equivalent levels of cooperation when the payoffs are the same. Two theoretical perspectives seem to contradict each other on the equivalence issue. Prospect theory implies that settings involving common pool resources should generate higher levels of cooperation than settings involving public goods; expected utility theory implies that the two settings should generate the same le…
Gender, Strategies, and Contributions to Public Goods
This study examines factors affecting cooperation in public goods settings involving relatively small groups. In particular, the gender composition of the group and the history of the group's level of cooperation are investigated. Three game-theoretical predictions are posited. Using expectation states theory and social identity theory, I offer two different sets of hypotheses regarding gender identity. A 3x2 experimental design tests the predict…
Group Processes and Structures: A Theoretical Integration
This book integrates what is known about group processes and the structures they produce. It examines the interrelations of processes and structures in the contexts of group development, group stability, orderly change in the group, and disintegration of the group. The processes and structures considered are attraction and consensus; prestige, power, and economic reward distribution; authority, trust, and influence; and justice in the allocation …
The Maintenance of Cooperation: Expectations of Future Interaction and the Trigger of Group Punishment
Reproducing Social Structure in Task Groups: The Role of Structural Ritualization
The reproduction of social structure occurs with regularity even when it is not in the interest of the group, the individual, or the society This article uses the theories of structural ritualization and expectation states to examine a specific case of social reproduction: the reproduction of hierarchical group procedure and practices in small task groups. The experimental test examines forty-four task groups under three different conditions: a b…
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Public Good and Resource Good Settings
Jane Sell, Zeng-Yin Chen, Pam Hunter-Holmes, Anna C. Johansson, A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Public Good and Resource Good Settings, Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 285-297
Conflict, Power, and Status in Groups
Psychology (35 works) · Social Psychology (28 works) · Economics (21 works) · Political science (19 works) · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies (16 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Mathematics (13 works) · Social Power and Status Dynamics (13 works) · Computer Science (12 works)