Group and Intergroup Processes: An Introduction

Abstract

TH I S I S S U E of Group Processes & Intergroup Relations is a special issue. It presents a selection of articles based on talks given at the inaugural group and intergroup processes pre-conference of the meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), held in Austin, Texas, in January 2004. It is not a thematic special issue in the sense of focusing narrowly on a specific area of research, but it is thematic in the sense that it showcases the breadth and diversity of contemporary research on group processes and intergroup relations. We decided to begin a group and intergroup processes pre-conference at SPSP because in a few short years SPSP has become the undisputed peak annual gathering of social psychologists from around the world—a gathering that is inclusive, diverse, and now very large. Almost every area of social psychology seemed to have or be about to have its very own preconference—except, that is, group and intergroup processes. This lacuna upset us; especially given the illustrious history and contemporary prominence of groups research in social psychology. We decided to fix it, with the intention that the pre-conference would become a permanent feature of SPSP conferences. Groups research has a number of specialist journals including this one, a long-running (since 1994) pre-conference at the annual meeting of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and a strong representation at the three-yearly general meeting of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology. In addition, of the almost 1000 social psychologists who have submitted their professional profiles to the Social Psychology Network (SPN, http://www.socialpsychology.org/), 974 have listed their interests across 34 different areas— of these, 303 (31%) identify group processes and/or intergroup relations as one of their research areas.1 Finally, group processes and intergroup relations feature prominently in the G P I R