EFFECTS OF GROUP DISCUSSION ATTACHMENT STYLES AND FACILITATION ON THE QUALITY OF DELIBERATION
EFFECTS OF GROUP DISCUSSION ATTACHMENT STYLES AND FACILITATION ON THE QUALITY OF DELIBERATION

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, we analyse the effects of group discussion attachment styles and their influence in interactions involving facilitation on the quality of the discussion process (according to deliberative prerequisites, such as equal participation, argumentation and respect). We conducted 26 deliberative discussions with 226 teachers from 13 primary schools on the topic of school discipline measures. The discussions, each including 7–12 participants, lasted 90 minutes; half of them were professionally facilitated in line with the deliberative criteria and half of them were non-facilitated. The higher an individual's group discussion attachment anxiety, the lower their self-assessment of the deliberative functioning and assessment of the group's deliberative functioning. Facilitation improved the assessment of individual deliberative functioning in those individuals who scored higher for group discussion attachment anxiety, while facilitated individuals higher on group discussion attachment avoidance assessed group deliberative functioning lower than the non-facilitated ones.

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