Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

Stephen Harkins

Stephen Harkins

My research interests focus on group processes, the effects of evaluation on performance, attitudes, and attitude change.

I am currently testing a three-variable model that may serve as the basis for an integration of five different traditions in which it has been shown that the potential for evaluation affects task performance: social loafing, social facilitation, goal-setting, intrinsic motivation/creativity, and achievement-goal theory. Although these research traditions have proposed process models to account for the evaluation effects, the models do not agree on the mediating process(es), nor is there any compelling evidence favoring one account over the others. In a second line of work, I am attempting to identify the process(es) that produce the evaluation effects through a molecular analysis of specific tasks (e.g., Remote Associates Task) on which these effects have been shown.

Primary Interests:

  • Attitudes and Beliefs
  • Group Processes
  • Interpersonal Processes
  • Motivation, Goal Setting

Books:

Journal Articles:

Other Publications:

  • Harkins, S. (2001). Social influence effects on task performance: The ascendancy of social evaluation over self-evaluation. In J. Forgas and K. Williams (Eds.), Social influence: Direct and indirect processes. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
  • Harkins, S. (2001). The role of task complexity and sources and criteria of evaluation in motivating task performance. In S. Harkins (Ed.), Multiple perspectives on the effects of evaluation on performance: Toward an integration. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
  • Harkins, S. (2001). The three-variable model: From Occam's razor to the black box. In S. Harkins (Ed.), Multiple perspectives on the effects of evaluation on performance: Toward an integration. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
  • Williams, K., Harkins, S., & Karau, S. (2003). Group performance. In M. Hogg and Cooper, J. (Eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology. United Kingdom: Sage.

Courses Taught:

  • Social Psychology
  • Social Psychology Laboratory
  • Social Psychology Seminar
  • Statistics
  • Statistics in Psychological Research

Stephen Harkins
Department of Psychology
Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
United States of America

  • Phone: (617) 373-3796
  • Fax: (617) 373-8714

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