Bio

Shane Thye is a professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina.  He is the series coeditor (with Professor Ed Lawler) of Advances in Group Processes.  He recently completed two books with professors Ed Lawler and Jeongkoo Yoon on “Social Commitments in a Depersonalized World” (Russell Sage Foundation, 2009) and Order on the Edge of Chaos (Cambridge University Press, 2015).  Professor Thye works primarily in the areas of group dynamics and experimental sociology.  His work has appeared in outlets such as the American Sociological Review, the American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Sociological Methods and Research, and Social Psychology Quarterly.  Professor Thye is currently conducting research on status processes in bargaining relations and the neurological bases of micro social order using state of the art EEG data collection technology.  Over the years his research with colleagues and students has been generously funded by nearly a dozen grants from the National Science Foundation.  He holds a B.S., M.A, and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Iowa and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Cornell University.

Research Interests

Social Psychology, Social Networks, Status Processes, Power Processes, Emotions,

Social Exchange Theory, Theoretical Methods, Quantitative Methods, Critical Thinking,

Experimental Design and Analysis, Paranormal Beliefs, Organizational Commitment,

Micro Foundations of Social Order

Department cluster: Social Psychology

Research overview:  Professor Thye is involved in numerous streams of research.  He is currently conducting research on status processes in bargaining relations and the neurological bases of micro social order using state of the art EEG data collection technology.  The latter project is in collaboration with the neurological research lab at Kent State University.  It seeks to trace how inter-brain synchronization leads to feelings of cohesion and solidarity, resulting in micro-social order.  Another project looks at how behavioral synchronization (body movements, eye-contact, posture) improves performance in 4-person teams who are collaborating to solve a problem

Current projects:  See above

Teaching

Graduate: Contemporary Group Processes, Theory Construction and Analysis,
Experimental Design and Analysis, Scaling and Measurement, Research Methods

Undergraduate: Introduction to Social Psychology, Individual and Society, Sociology of the Paranormal, Introductory Sociology (honors)

Selected Publications

BOOKS

2015  Edward J. Lawler, Shane R. Thye and Jeongkoo Yoon (Eds.). Order on the Edge of Chaos: Social Psychology and the Problem of Social Order. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.

• Reviewed in the American Journal of Sociology.

2009  Edward J. Lawler, Shane R. Thye and Jeongkoo Yoon. Social Commitments in a Depersonalized World. The Russell Sage Foundation: New York, New York.

• Winner: Coleman Award for Best Book given by the Rationality and Society
  Section of the ASA.
• Honorable Mention: Recent Contribution to the Field given by the
  Emotions Section of the ASA.
• Second printing now in paperback.

SELECTED REFEREED ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS

Forthcoming  Shane Thye, Edward J. Lawler and Jeongkoo Yoon. “The Formation of Group Ties in Open Interaction Task Groups.” Social Psychology Quarterly.

2017  Will Kalkhoff, Shane Thye and Stanford Gregory. “Nonverbal Vocal Adaptation and Audience Perceptions of Dominance and Prestige.” Social Psychology Quarterly 80(4):342-354.

2017  Shane Thye and Ashley Harrell. “The Status Value Theory of Power and Mechanisms of Micro Stratification: Theory and New Experimental Evidence.” Social Science Research 63:54-66.

2016  Will Kalkhoff, Shane Thye and Joshua Pollock. “Developments in Neurosociology.” Sociology Compass 10(3):242-258.

2011  Shane R. Thye, Edward J. Lawler, Jeongkoo Yoon. “The Emergence of Embedded Relations in Networks of Competition." Social Psychology Quarterly 74(4):387-413.

2008  Edward J. Lawler, Shane R. Thye and Jeongkoo Yoon. “Social Exchange and Micro
Social Order.” American Sociological Review 73(4):519-542.

2006  Will Kalkhoff and Shane Thye. “Expectation States Theory and Research: New Observations from Meta-Analysis.” Sociological Methods and Research 35(2):219-249.

2006   Shane Thye, David Willer and Barry Markovsky. “From Status to Power: New Models at the Intersection of Two Theories.” Social Forces 84(3):1471-1495.

• Shane R. Thye. “A Status Value Theory of Power in Exchange Networks.” American Sociological Review 65(3):407-432.

2000  Shane R. Thye. “Reliability in Experimental Sociology.” Social Forces 78(4):1277-1309.

2000  Edward J. Lawler, Shane R. Thye and Jeongkoo Yoon. “Emotion and Group Cohesion in Productive Exchange.” American Journal of Sociology 106(3):616-657.