Graduation Date
Spring 2026
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Psychology, option Academic Research
Committee Chair Name
Amber Gaffney
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Amanda Hahn
Second Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Benjamin Anjewierden
Third Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Leadership deviance, Subjective group dynamics, Transgression credit
Subject Categories
Psychology
Abstract
Social groups are built by members and leaders who form consensus on the defining attributes of their groups. Individual group members look to senior members and leaders to learn what it means to be a member of that group. Thus, norm maintenance is an important aspect of group health. The subjective group dynamics model details the specific group contexts under which people derogate ingroup members for transgressing norms. However, ingroup leaders are treated differently from regular group members and are given leniency for their transgressions. The current research extends these two bodies of work by directly comparing the consequences of deviations among both leaders and members. I manipulated the target status (leader vs. member) and direction of behavior (pronormative, normative, or antinormative deviance). In a sample of US Americans (N = 263), the hypothesis that normative targets will be perceived the highest in prototypicality and evaluations, followed by pronormative targets, and then antinormative targets was partially supported. I predicted that leaders will be given a general boost in prototypicality and evaluations compared to members, but I found no evidence to support this hypothesis. Additional analyses demonstrated greater support for the social identity model compared to an interpersonal model explanation for the findings. I discussed the implications of using a novel paradigm to replicate the subjective group dynamics model.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
Burtch, Catie, "Subjective glib dynamics: Using an alien society to investigate reactions to leader and member norm deviance" (2026). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2551.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2551