People who develop strong attachment to their own group use diverse language to persuasively express even opinions that differ from the mainstream.
KAIST announced on the 27th that researchers Lee Su-jin and Jung Seung-won of the Technology Gyeong Yeong-hak-bu (Prof.) team, in collaboration with a research team from the Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada, derived these findings. The results were published online last month on the 4th in the international academic journal 'Scientific Reports'.
The psychological state of perceiving one's own group as a foundation for stable relationships is called "secure group attachment." When individuals receive emotional and relational support from their group and recognize themselves as valuable members, they form secure group attachment. The stronger the attachment, the more secure they feel that even if they express opinions differing from the group, they will not be rejected or excluded relationally by the group.
The research team investigated how this secure group attachment affects organizational culture. They conducted two experiments by dividing perspectives between those presenting minority opinions and the majority members accepting them.
In the first experiment, participants were induced to feel secure group attachment. Subsequently, they expressed their opinions under the perception that their views represented a minority within the group.
As a result, participants who formed secure group attachment used more vocabulary than those who did not, elaborating their opinions and expressing them more persuasively. The research team explained, "This is because participants focused more on the given problem and the content of the opinions themselves rather than concerns about relationships."
In the second experiment, participants evaluated arguments written by minority opinion holders from the perspective of majority opinion holders. As a result, participants generally rated the arguments of minority opinion holders who had formed secure group attachment as more persuasive. They also perceived less resistance to the group's expectations. Additionally, their willingness to utilize these opinions in actual decision-making was higher.
The research team projected that these findings could be utilized in the future when designing organizational culture and leadership to reduce groupthink and leverage members' knowledge and perspectives in companies, research institutions, institutional investors, and public organizations.
Professor Jung stated, "Merely providing opportunities for members to voice opposing opinions is not sufficient." He further explained, "Members must be confident that they will not be excluded from the organization even if they express different opinions. Only then can they convey their thoughts more concretely and persuasively, and the majority can accept them as useful information for better decisions rather than conflict."
Kim Taehyun of KAIST's Technology Gyeong Yeong-hak-bu (Dr.) program participated as the first author in this study. The research received support from the Korea Information and Communication Planning Evaluation Institute and Samsung Electronics.
in TECH
