Social Relations Model

The social relations model (SRM), developed by David Kenny and Lawrence LaVoie, offers both a conceptualization scheme and a set of analytical tools for studying interdependent perceptions and behaviors related to group processes and outcomes at multiple levels of analysis. The model assesses the degree of similarity of perceptions or behaviors within groups (e.g., whether everyone in the group thinks that a given member is credible or whether members direct their comments to a particular person) and whether that similarity holds at the individual, dyadic, and group levels of analysis. The SRM decomposes ratings members make about or behaviors directed to other members into three basic components, each of which is used to answer a set of specific questions regarding group and interpersonal processes.

A typical SRM study of small groups employs a round-robin design, in which each member rates every other member on some measure (although some studies use a block design, in which a subset of members rates another subset), so round-robin designs are assumed in the remainder of this entry. Self-ratings are possible, although not necessary. Excluding them, however, precludes several interesting analyses. Depending on the research questions and purposes of the study, ratings can be obtained before, during, or after interaction, and, in some cases, ratings are obtained at zero-acquaintance, before members get to know one another. The result is that in a group of size N, each member rates and is rated by the N − 1 other members on the variable or measure of interest.

According to the SRM, three main components of perception (as derived from the ratings) are the perceiver, target, and relationship effects. The perceiver effect describes the tendency to view or rate a set of targets similarly. For example, a given member might be predisposed to rate all his or her colleagues high on credibility. The perceiver effect indexes assimilation, which is the extent to which a person provides similar ratings of the other group members. The target effect describes the set of judgments a set of perceivers makes about a target. For example, some members may be perceived uniformly as having high credibility, perhaps because of their behavior or institutional position. The term consensus is attached to the target effect. Finally, the relationship effect is the unique perceptions a perceiver has of a target relative to other targets. Uniqueness is the extent to which one's perception of the target cannot be explained by consensus and assimilation. From these three components, one is able to ask several questions, including those related to assumed similarity, which is the correspondence between self-perceptions and one's perceptions of others, and selfother agreement (i.e., the correlation of self-perceptions and others' perceptions).

The variation of judgments at different levels of analysis is at the heart of the SRM. The perceiver and target variances are at the individual level. If members of four-person groups rate each other on credibility, there are four mean perceiver scores (each person rates the other three members) and four mean target scores (each person is rated by the three other members). Those means will likely differ or vary from one another. The term target variance refers to the variability of the four means for each of the four targets in the group, whereas perceiver variance indexes variation in the mean perceiver scores. (The actual computation of the variances is complex and is averaged across groups.) If there is little or no variance in the target effect, for example, then the rating one receives is not different from that received by others. If there is sufficient perceiver or target variance, then one can examine the extent to which the ratings vary with other variables of interest. For example, a researcher might hypothesize that the number of contributions to discussion correlates with credibility ratings received.

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