In celebration of the 125th anniversary of The American Journal of Psychology, this article discusses a seminal publication by Marjorie Shaw (1932) on small group performance in the rational solution ...of complex problems. We then propose an approach for the effective regulation of group goal striving based on the collective action control perspective. From this perspective, group performance might be hindered by a collective intention-behavior gap: Groups fail to act on their intentions despite being strongly committed to the collective goal, knowing what the necessary actions are, and being capable of performing them. To reduce this gap, we suggest specific if-then plans (implementation intentions) in which groups specify when, where, and how to act toward their collective goal as an easily applicable self-regulation strategy to automate collective action control. Studies in which implementation intentions improved group performance in hidden profile, escalation of commitment, and cooperation task paradigms are reported and discussed.
The present special issue of Social Psychology therefore aspires to bring together characteristic perspectives from different disciplines in an analysis of the limits of intentional action control. ...The contributions in this special issue cover a broad range of research programs, comprising several theoretical and empirical contributions from the field of cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and motivation psychology, as well as philosophy and neuroscience. A look at the 10 articles of this special issue quickly reveals the diversity of the different perspectives—as well as important conceptual and methodological similarities. Because we feel that the integration of different perspectives has the potential to propel research on the limits of intentionality, the articles of the special issue are organized along the comprehensive categories of conscious and unconscious action control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
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