Will leaders bring us together? The impact of deviant status and (in)effective social control on group cohesiveness

How is group cohesiveness influenced by deviant status and group reaction to deviance (social control)? Participants were presented with a case of an ingroup member that disrespected their coach. They were also informed that the deviant member was either a leader (team captain) or a regular member and that the group reacted or not to such deviance (effective or ineffective social control). Results showed that participants who felt more threatened revealed higher scores of valued roles (one dimension of group cohesiveness). The deviant status only had impact on group cohesiveness when the deviance caused a lower threat to participant’s social identity.We also found evidence that the status of deviant members is related with individuals’ agreement to punish these deviant members: participants agreed more with punishment reactions directed to leaders than to regular members, especially if the group did not deal with such deviance.