Research Note Perceptions Are Reality: How Family Meetings Lead to Collective Action

Timothy G. Habbershon, Joseph H. Astrachan

Family meetings develop family unity through the creation of perceived shared beliefs. The article presents a model with strategic implications showing how shared beliefs lead to collective action, which leads to outcomes and then the reassessment of the shared beliefs. Finally, the article reports on initial re- search on the reliability of instruments developed to explore one aspect of this model: The creation of shared beliefs through family meetings. The initial results suggest that perceptions of shared beliefs may be an important stimu- lant of collective family activity.