Dear Harry,
Social psychology is an inter-disciplinary field. It deals, if to be
broad, with the social influences on individual(s) and on group
behavior, including interactions between people and in your specific
case, "ice breakers" - how other individuals influence our thoughts,
our feelings and our social behaviour.
There are several text books and other academic sources that might fit
your interest.
First, as a text book, many universities use
Myers, D. G. (1996). Social Psychology (6th ed.). New York: McGraw
Hill.
Other textbooks might be:
Halberstadt, A. G., & Ellyson, S. L. (1990). Social Psychology
Readings: A Century of Research. McGraw-Hill, Inc: New York
Serge Moscovici (2001). Social Representations: Explorations in Social
Psychology New York University Press
Mary Jo Deegan (1989) American Ritual Dramas: Social Rules and
Cultural Meanings. Greenwood Press
More specifically for your subject, you can try:
Miller, G. R., Burgoon, M., and J. K. Burgoon, (1984), The Functions
of Human Communication in Changing Attitudes and Gaining Compliance,
in C, C. Arnold and J. W, Bowers (eds.), Handbook of Rhetorical and
Communication Theory, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 400-74.
Petty, R. E. and D. T. Wegener, (1998), Attitude Change: Multiple
Roles for Persuasion Variables, in The Handbook of Social Psychology,
4th ed., D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, and G. Lindzey, eds., Boston:
McGraw-Hill, vol.1, 535-548.
Tyler, T. R, and R. A. Schuller, (1991), Aging and Attitude Change,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 689-97.
In the experimental levels, several researches on inter-group
interactions and "first meetings" were made. For example:
Gleicher, F. and R. E. Petty, (1992), Expectations of Reassurance
Influence the Nature of Fear- Stimulated Attitude Change, Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, 86-100.
Chang, M. and C. R. Gruner, (1981), Audience Reaction to
Self-disparaging Humor, SSCJ, 419- 26.
There are several researches on the means used to "break the ice"
(animals, alcohol, humour, etc.):
Mugford, R. A. and M'Comisky, J. G. (1975) Some recent work on the
psychotherapeutic value of caged birds with old people. In Pet Animals
and Society. Ed. R. S. Anderson. pp. 54 65. Baillere Tindall, London.
Monahan, J.L. & Lannutti, P. J. (2000). Alcohol as social lubricant:
Alcohol myopia theory, social self-esteem and social interaction.
Human Communication Research.
Berlyne, D. E. (1969). Laughter, humor and play. In G. Lindzey & E.
Aronson (Eds.) Handbook of Social Psychology (vol. 3) Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
Kane, T., Suls, J., and J. Tedeschi, (1977), Humour as a Tool of
Social Interaction, in A. Chapman and H. Foot (Eds.), It's a Funny
thing, Humour, Oxford: Pergamon, 13-16.
Wanzer, M. B., Booth-Butterfield, M. and S. Booth Butterfield (1996),
Are Funny People Popular? An Examination of Humor Orientation,
Loneliness, and Social Attraction, CQ, 42-52.
There are a lot of research done on "ice breakers" in social
psychology in the context of teaching:
Bauer, H. H., & Snizek, W. E. (1989, July). Encouraging students in
large classes to ask questions: Some promising results from classes in
chemistry and sociology. Teaching Sociology, 17(3), 337 340.
Beebe, Steven A. and John T. Masterson. 1982. Communicating in Small
Groups:
Principals and Practices.
Ekachai, D. G. (1996), Diversity Icebreaker, SCT, Spring, 14-15.
Harcum, E. R. (1991, October). Rap singing as an icebreaker for large
classes. Teaching of Psychology, 18(3), 181-182.
Witte, K. and K. Morrison, (1995), Using Scare Tactics to Promote
Safer Sex Among Juvenile Detention and High School Youth, ACR,
128-142.
and:
Rothwell, D. (1992). In mixed company: Small group communication.
Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.
Thomas, E.J. and C.F. Fink. 1961. "Models of Group Problem Solving".
Journal of
Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 1
It is also discussed in corporate/work setting, see for example:
Amabile, T. M. (1998, Sept.-Oct.). How to kill creativity. Harvard
Business Review, 77-87.
Ford, C. M. (1999). Corporate culture. In M. A. Runco & S. R.
Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity. Volume one (pp.
385-393). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Shamir, B., Zakav E., Breinin, E., and Popper, M. (1998), Correlates
of Charismatic Leader Behavior in Military Units: Subordinates’
Attitudes, Unit of Characteristics, and Superiors’ Appraisals of
Leader Performance, Academy of Management Journal, 387-409.
West, R. (1993), Can We Talk? Using the Personal Reference Inventory
as an Icebreaker, SCT, Summer, 12-13.
Search terms used:
+"social psychology" +syllabus ice (the reason I used the work
syllabus is that there are many academic ayllabus online, that are a
golden source to know what the professors in this field think it's
important that you'd read)
+"social psychology" "ice breaker"
+"social psychology" "icebreaker"
+"social psychology" "social lubricant"
Please contact me if you need anything else. I also recommend you,
after you read the sources, to search their own bibliography and
sources; and more books or articles by the same authors. Moreover, I
would recommend to consult with a professor of social psychology -
they would be usually happy to help.
Political Guru Ga |
