Performance in small student groups: Group personality, identity, and norms

Summary

This book chapter examines how the performance of small student groups is shaped by the interplay of group-level personality, social identity, and group norms. The authors review evidence that aggregating members' personalities, particularly conscientiousness and agreeableness, provides a meaningful group-level predictor of achievement. They integrate this with self-categorisation theory, which holds that identifying with the group and internalising its performance norms strongly influences how members work together. Bringing these perspectives together, the chapter argues that dispositional and social-identity factors are complementary rather than competing explanations of group performance. It offers guidance for educators on structuring student groups to support identification and productive norms. The chapter appears in the edited volume Self and Social Identity in Educational Contexts.