ABSTRACT
A rich and long history of research within and beyond the realm of politics and political behavior demonstrates the important consequences of group dynamics on the beliefs, attitudes and behavior of individual group members. These efforts have taken place in a wide variety of fields – political science, sociology, social psychology, consumer behavior and more. While the breadth of the research is impressive, the accumulation of knowledge is sometimes complicated by disciplinary boundaries that give rise to the relative independence of the various efforts. In this chapter, we review these studies to identify several central themes, as well as to focus on two separate dimensions of influence within groups. These two dimensions, in turn, comprise a basic structural factor along which political discussion and deliberation occur. Finally, we classify various consequences arising due to group dynamics.
