John Donelson Ross Forsyth Professor, Colonel Leo K. and Gaylee Thorsness Chair in Ethical Leadership Curriculum Vitae Richmond Research Institute Profile

The heart of Professor's Forsyth's work is to build knowledge about why people feel, think and act as they do. An authority on group dynamics -- whose text Group Dynamics is in its fourth printing -- Forsyth focuses on groups' reactions to success and failure, the interpersonal functions of groups, including small group decision making. He has studied influence, juries, mobs, crowds, clubs, cliques and leadership. His broad interests include social behavior, leadership and group dynamics, and research methodology in the social sciences.

Don Forsyth joined the Jepson School faculty in 2005 after long service at Virginia Commonwealth University as a Professor in the Department of Psychology with a joint appointment in sociology.

A mark of the high level of his scholarship, he serves on numerous editorial boards for professional journals. He has served as advisor and mentor to some 25 doctoral students. At VCU, he taught graduate courses in research methods, attribution and social cognition, attitudes, group dynamics and social psychology.

Dr. Forsyth has received a number of grants, fellowships, and awards for teaching. Honors include: the Award of Excellence, Virginia Commonwealth University (2002); State of Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, (2002) Distinguished Scholar Award, Virginia Social Science Association (2001); Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology, Virginia Commonwealth University (2000); Instructional Technology Teaching Mentor, Virginia Commonwealth University (1998-2000) and the Virginia Commonwealth University Distinguished Teaching Award (1993).

A prolific and thoughtful writer, he stays active in a number of scientific, honorary and professional societies including the American Psychological Society, American Sociological Association, American Psychological Association (Divisions 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 49), Society of Personality and Social Psychology, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Society of Experimental Social Psychology, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Capital Area Social Psychological Association, Southeastern Society of Social Psychology, Society for the Advancement of Social Psychology.

About the Thorsness Chair in Ethical Leadership

Created in 2004 and funded by a gift from W. Thomas Matthews, President and Chief Executive Officer, Private Client, for the Smith Barney Planning Group, the Colonel Leo K. and Gaylee Thorsness Endowed Chair in Ethical Leadership honors Colonel Thorsness, United States Air Force (retired), who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam and received the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism. After retiring from the military, Colonel Thorsness worked as a corporate executive and served as a senator from Washington State from 1988 to 1992. He and his wife, Gaylee, now reside in Arizona.

The purpose of this chair is to recruit and employ a stellar faculty member in the Jepson School of Leadership Studies who will teach students about the benefits and characteristics of ethical leadership and perpetuate that understanding with all students whom the chairholder instructs.

Courses and Syllabi

• Theories & Models of Leadership [Syllabus]
• Psychology of Good and Evil [Syllabus]
• Group Dynamics [Syllabus]

Projects and News

• Forsyth Launches Katrina Web Site

Publications

Recent books

• Group dynamics (4^th edition). (in press). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

• The professor's guide to teaching: Psychological principles and practices (2003). Washington: American Psychological Association.

• Our social world. (1995). Pacific Grove, Ca: Brooks/Cole.

• Handbook of social and clinical psychology: The health perspective. Co-editor with C. R. Snyder. (1991). New York: Pergamon.

Recent Articles and Chapters

• Forsyth, D. R., & Burnette, J. (in press). The history of group research. In  S. Wheelan (Ed.), The handbook of group research and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

• Forsyth, D. R. (in press). Group process and leadership (600+ terms). In Dictionary of psychological terms. Washington: American Psychological Association.

• Forsyth, D. R. (2004). Therapeutic groups. In M. Brewer (Ed.), Applied social psychology.  UK: Blackwell.

• Forsyth, D. R. (2004). Inferences about actions performed in constraining contexts: Correspondence bias or correspondent inference? Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality, Social, 23, 41-51.

• Forsyth, D. R. (2003). Individual moral philosophies (IMPs)and ethical thought and action. In L. Begue, N. Przygodski, & C. Blatier (Eds.), The psychological study of morality. Paris: Inpress Publisher.

• Derlega, V. J., Cukur, C., Kuang, J. C. Y., & Forsyth, D. R. (2002). Interdependent construal of self and the endorsement of conflict resolution strategies in interpersonal, intergroup, and international disputes. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 33, 610-625.

• Forsyth, D. R., Zyzniewski, L. E., & Giammanco, C. A. (2002). Responsibility diffusion in cooperative collectives. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 54-65.

• Forsyth, D. R. (2002). Clinical psychology of group psychotherapy.  In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (Eds), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. New York: Elsevier Science.

• Forsyth, D. R. (2001). Breaking standards of morality when studying morality:  Case commentaries.  Ethics & Behavior, 11, 349-352.

• Forsyth, D. R. (2001). Therapeutic groups. In M. A. Hogg & R. S. Tindale (Eds.), Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. 3: Group Processes (pp. 628-659). Oxford, UK: Blackwell

• Forsyth, D. R. (2000). The social psychology of groups and group psychotherapy:  One view of the next century. Group, 24, 147-155.

• Forsyth, D. R. (2000). Social comparison and influence in groups. In J. Suls & L. Wheeler (Eds.), Handbook of social comparison: Theory and research (pp. 81-103). New York: Plenum

• Forsyth, D. R. (2000).  One hundred years of group research .  Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 4, 1-3.
  Forsyth, D. R., & Corazzini, J. G. (2000). Groups as change agents.  In C. R. Snyder & R. E. Ingram (Eds.), Handbook of Psychological Change: Psychotherapy Processes and Practices for the 21st Century (pp. 309-336). New York: Wiley.

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