Group Think Bias and Leadership Influence

In this week's episode, I am honoured to welcome David Rast. David is an associate professor of social psychology and leadership at the University of Alberta. David has two primary lines of research drawing extensively on social identity and self-categorization theories and related sub-theories. First, he wants to understand how leaders elicit or incite social and organizational change by going against their group’s norms. Second, he is interested in understanding how leaders can bridge profound intergroup divisions to build a unified no identity and achieve a joint goal.

Other lines of research are related to these two themes, exploring the processes and implications of political identity, minority influence, deviance, intergroup cooperation/conflict, leader rhetoric, and organizational behaviour. David’s work is generously supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). David completed his PhD and Master’s at Claremont Graduate University (USA). He was a Predoctoral Research Fellow for the U.S. Army Research Institute’s Leader Development Research Unit at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas (USA). Before joining the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta in 2015, he was an assistant professor at the University of Sheffield’s Institute of Work Psychology (UK).

David is the Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Social Psychology and Consulting Editor for Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. He is appointed to the Editorial Boards of Self and Identity and the Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology. In 2018, David was elected a Society for Experimental Social Psychology Fellow.

In this episode, David and I discuss the aspect of groupthink bias and how our choices and decisions are impacted by the groups we often associate with. We also talk about how leaders use certain messaging to influence people or perhaps even use manipulation. David and I also talk about how we can become more aware of these unconscious biases that may be at play and use critical thinking, which the covid-19 lockdowns prevented and forced people to have strong attachments with their ideas and opinions, which led to divisiveness and polarization we are currently experiencing to a larger extent. We also discussed Donald Trump's impact through some of his messaging during his Presidency.

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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/furkhan-dandia/support

In this week's episode, I am honoured to welcome David Rast. David is an associate professor of social psychology and leadership at the University of Alberta. David has two primary lines of research drawing extensively on social identity and self-categorization theories and related sub-theories. First, he wants to understand how leaders elicit or incite social and organizational change by going against their group’s norms. Second, he is interested in understanding how leaders can bridge profound intergroup divisions to build a unified no identity and achieve a joint goal.

Other lines of research are related to these two themes, exploring the processes and implications of political identity, minority influence, deviance, intergroup cooperation/conflict, leader rhetoric, and organizational behaviour. David’s work is generously supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). David completed his PhD and Master’s at Claremont Graduate University (USA). He was a Predoctoral Research Fellow for the U.S. Army Research Institute’s Leader Development Research Unit at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas (USA). Before joining the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta in 2015, he was an assistant professor at the University of Sheffield’s Institute of Work Psychology (UK).

David is the Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Social Psychology and Consulting Editor for Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. He is appointed to the Editorial Boards of Self and Identity and the Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology. In 2018, David was elected a Society for Experimental Social Psychology Fellow.

In this episode, David and I discuss the aspect of groupthink bias and how our choices and decisions are impacted by the groups we often associate with. We also talk about how leaders use certain messaging to influence people or perhaps even use manipulation. David and I also talk about how we can become more aware of these unconscious biases that may be at play and use critical thinking, which the covid-19 lockdowns prevented and forced people to have strong attachments with their ideas and opinions, which led to divisiveness and polarization we are currently experiencing to a larger extent. We also discussed Donald Trump's impact through some of his messaging during his Presidency.

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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/furkhan-dandia/support