The Effect of Closeness of Group Members on Individual Moral Decision Making
Previous studies have investigated the effect of group cohesiveness on group decision-making performance. However, the results of those studies remained inconsistent because of the unclear definition and the complexity of group cohesiveness. Besides, most of the previous studies focused on the quality of group decision-making but neglected the individual experience during the decision process. To make a more explicit investigation of the effect, the present study uses the closeness of group members instead of group cohesiveness. In this study, we examined (N = 28) how the level of closeness with group members will affect individuals’ group decision-making process in a moral scenario through an online survey. The closeness was measured by the Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale (IOS) and the individual's reaction to the opposite opinion from different closeness levels' group member was measured by three questions. The result indicated that the closeness of group members does affect an individual’s decision making: people in the closer-member group showed more willingness to express their opinions and have higher possibility to compromise to the opposite opinions. The result adds closeness as a new factor and proposed a new aspect for future studies of the individual decision-making process in groups.