I have two areas of research interest. I am primarily interested in the nature of cooperation within interdependent groups, especially groups faced with a social dilemma. In particular, I look at the role of individual differences in cooperation, and the impact of cognitive processes on cooperation. We have also begun to study how people react to group members who exhibit counternormative behavior within a social dilemma, specifically those who free ride, and those who have a high level of benevolence. The latter are people who do much to help the group and ask for little in return.

Surprisingly, we have found that benevolent people are not very popular in the long run. This seems to be because some people see benevolent individuals as an undesirable standard of comparison; some fear that the person will cause the group norm to shift from equitable behavior to benevolence; and a few see suspicious ulterior motives in benevolent behavior. We are currently trying to determine what individual and situational factors lead people to be more or less tolerant of benevolent individuals.

I also study processes within decision-making groups. Here, I emphasize how the initial, pre-discussion distribution of individual preferences affects the ensuing process of reaching consensus. We have shown, for example, that group members who are initially unanimous as to what option should be adopted still feel the need to discuss the issue; it is unclear why. We are also looking into the the dynamics of small majorities, in particular whether their smallness undercuts the influential power usually ascribed to majorities.

I am currently Editor of Group Dynamics.

Primary Interests:

Aggression, Conflict, Peace
Group Processes
Intergroup Relations
Interpersonal Processes
Judgment and Decision Making
Social Cognition

Aggression, Conflict, Peace
Group Processes
Intergroup Relations

Interpersonal Processes
Judgment and Decision Making
Social Cognition

Journal Articles:

Balliet, D. P., Parks, C. D., & Joireman, J. (2009). Social value orientation, strong versus weak situations, and cooperation: A meta-analysis. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 12, 533-547.
Joireman, J., Posey, D. C., Truelove, H. B., & Parks, C. D. (2009). The environmentalist who cried drought: Reactions to repeated warnings about depleting resources under conditions of uncertainty. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29, 181-192.
Kerr, N. L., Rumble, A. C., Park, E. S., Parks, C. D., Ouwerkerk, J. W. Gallucci, M., & van Lange, P. A. M. (2009). “How many bad apples does it take to spoil the whole barrel?”: Social exclusion and tolerance for bad apples. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 603-613.
McPherson, S., & Parks, C. D. (2011). Intergroup and interindividual resource competition escalating into conflict: The elimination option. Group Dynamics, 15, 285-297.
Parks, C. D., & Stone, A. B. (2010). The desire to expel unselfish members from the group. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99, 303-310.
Pula, K., McPherson, S., & Parks, C. D. (2012). Invariance of a two-factor model of social dominance orientation across gender. Personality and Individual Differences, 52, 385-389.
Rumble, A. C., van Lange, P. A. M., & Parks, C. D. (2010). The benefits of empathy: When empathy may sustain cooperation in social dilemmas. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 856-866.
Truelove, H. B., & Parks, C. D. (2012). Perceptions of behaviors that cause and mitigate global warming. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32, 246-259.

Other Publications:

Parks, C. D. (2012). Personality influences on group processes: The past, present, and future. In M. Snyder & K. Deaux (Eds.), Handbook of social and personality psychology (pp. 517-544). New York: Oxford University Press.

Courses Taught:

Correlation and Regression (Graduate)
Group Dynamics (Graduate)
Psychometrics (Graduate)
Social Psychology (Undergraduate)
Structural Equation Modeling (Graduate)
Univariate and Multivariate ANOVA (Graduate)

Correlation and Regression (Graduate)
Group Dynamics (Graduate)
Psychometrics (Graduate)

Social Psychology (Undergraduate)
Structural Equation Modeling (Graduate)
Univariate and Multivariate ANOVA (Graduate)

Craig Parks
Department of Psychology
P.O. Box 644820
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164
United States

Work: (509) 335-8946
Home: (509) 334-6457
Fax: (509) 335-5043