ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some of their key insights about leadership and group processes in newly formed groups whose members are not identical in social attributes. It describes how group leaders emerge in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups, the types of leadership roles they take, and the relationship between status and influence in groups and in social life more generally. There are two types of status characteristics that guide performance expectations: diffuse and specific. Diffuse status characteristics influence ideas about general competence. The chapter helps to understand how groups make decisions and why they sometimes make the wrong decisions. It explains how relationships and interactions between people are related to power and dependence, as well as trust, commitment, and emotional attachment. The chapter aims to differentiate various principles individuals use to determine the fairness of outcomes and allocation processes and recognize possible responses to unfairness.
