Trustworthiness and influence in task groups focused on a single group member

Task groups focused on helping a single group member perform well on a task, or the advice-seeking situation, is a familiar occurrence in everyday life: patients and physicians work together to help the patient manage his or her quality of life, students and teachers work together to ensure that the student achieves academic success, and lawyers meet with clients to organize evidence in favor of the client. Rare, however, is the formal application of group process theories to understand these situations. The omission is particularly unfortunate given the preponderance of research documenting inequities in the outcomes for the focal team member, such as the provision of health care to patients. Group process theories are rich with formal statements that explain the processes by which such inequities occur and sustain themselves, which can then be used to develop interventions. The goal of this dissertation is to present such an application in a variety of populations and settings.