Socially Shared Cognition, Affect, and Behavior: A Review and Integration

In this article, we review four classes of models of socially-shared cognition and behavior: supra-individual models, information-processing models, communication models, and social interaction models. Our review draws upon research and theory in social psychology, sociology, and organization behavior. We conclude that these innovative perspectives on socially-shared behavior represent a new approach to the study of groups and are distinct from traditional models of the group mind and crowd behavior. The key processes implicated in these models focus on the potency of immediate interaction, reciprocal influence processes between individuals and groups, goal-directed behavior, negotiated processing of information and ideas, and the maintenance and enhancement of social identity. This approach to socially-shared understanding is not antagonistic toward the analysis of individual-level processes but rather maintains that individual-level processes are necessary, but not sufficient, to build a social psychology of shared understanding.