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research the other two groups—particularly factoring in the competition that would follow. They were less concerned with the welfare of the next group because they identified so strongly with their own, he says. As part of a second study, 89 participants were assigned to one of three groups. The first was asked to walk in-step with an experimenter; the second, to walk out-of-step with the experimenter; and the third, to simply walk. Then, the same experimenter asked some participants to funnel as many sow bugs as possible into a device they were told would kill the bugs; others were asked to do so by a different experimenter. (No bugs were actually killed.) Those in the in-step group who received these direc- tions from the same experimenter funneled nearly 54 percent more bugs into the device than those in the control group; 38 percent more than those in the out- Women of Influence THE IMPACT and absence of women at the top spots of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. are the sub- jects of several recent research reports: n The InterOrganization Network (ION) released its Eighth Annual Status Report on women directors and executive officers of 100 public companies in 14 regions of the United States. "Gender Imbalance in the Boardroom: Opportunities to Change Course" finds that among Fortune 500 companies in the 14 regions, Massachusetts reported the highest percent- age of women directors at 20.6 percent. All but three regions—Kansas, Missouri, and the New York metropolitan region—reported a decrease in the number of all-male boards between 2010 and 2011. ION also found that of the 542 new indepen- dent directors elected to corporate boards in 12 ION regions between 2010 and 2011, 87 were women (16.1 percent). Of all regions, Florida made the biggest strides. It reported a 5 percent increase in the percentage of women executive officers over the last year. Even so, 42 of Florida's top 100 public companies have no women directors, and women occupy only 9.3 per- cent of its board seats. 52 March/April 2012 BizEd of-step group; and 50 percent more than others in the in-step group who received directions from someone other than the experimenter. The in-step group felt a stronger bond to their experimenter than other partici- pants, so they were willing to be more aggressive at the experimenter's request. Both studies should be cautionary tales for compa- nies trying to encourage synchrony among employees. Managers need to take into account the power of influ- ence, says Wiltermuth. "The findings suggest that syn- chrony cannot only be used for good, but also as a tool to promote evil." Wiltermuth's first study, "Synchronous Activ- ity Boosts Compliance with Requests to Aggress," appeared in the January 2012 issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. His second study, "Synchrony and Destructive Obedience," is forthcom- ing in Social Influence. The report is available at www.ionwomen.org/wp- content/uploads/2011/12/ION_StatusReport_2011.pdf. n Catalyst, a global nonprofit dedicated to expand- ing opportunities for women in business, has released "Women on Boards." The report measures the per- STOCKBROKERXTRA/GLOW IMAGES