Many of the most important decisions in our society are made within groups, yet we know little about how the physiological responses of group members predict the decisions that groups make. In the current work, we examine whether physiological linkage from "senders" to "receivers"-which occurs when a sender's physiological response predicts a receiver's physiological response-is associated with senders' success at persuading the group to make a decision in their favor. We also examine whether experimentallymanipulated status-an important predictor of social behavior-is associated with physiological linkage. In groups of five, we randomly assigned one person to be high-status, one low-status, and three middle-status. Groups completed a collaborative decision-making task that required them to come to a consensus on a decision to hire one of five firms. Unbeknownst to the three middle status members, high-and low-status members surreptitiously were told to each argue for different firms. We measured cardiac interbeat intervals of all group members throughout the decision-making process to assess physiological linkage. We found that the more receivers were physiologically linked to senders, the more likely groups were to make a decision in favor of the senders. We did not find that people were physiologically linked to their group members as a function of their group members' status. This work identifies physiological linkage as a novel correlate of persuasion and highlights the need to understand the PHYSIOLOGICAL LINKAGE DURING GROUP DECISION-MAKING 3 relationship between group members' physiological responses during group decision-making.

In contemporary society, decisions are often made by teams whose members represent different nationalities and genders. In the current work, participants from 55 countries formed groups of three to four people to select one of five firms in a mock firm search. In all groups, one woman was randomly assigned to have higher status than her groupmates; she was also surreptitiously instructed to persuade her group to select one (randomly-assigned) firm. We measured cardiac interbeat intervals for participants throughout the decision-making process to assess physiological linkage—the degree to which a “sender’s” physiological response predicts a “receiver’s” physiological response at a subsequent time interval. On average, high-status women were successful at persuasion. The physiological responses of successful high-status women were also predicted by the responses of their female groupmates: stronger linkage to female group members during the task was associated with success at persuading the group. Successful high-status women were also perceived as more persuasive than others in the group. This work shows that the link between status and successful persuasion generalizes to women among heterogeneous international teams. It also suggests that attention to others—often associated with physiological linkage—may be useful in persuading others during decision-making.

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