AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF COOPERATION AND COMPETITION
ON GROUP PARTICIPATION, GROUP COHESIVENESS AND GROUP PRODUCTIVITY
1965 Volume 13 Issue 4 Pages 193-205,252
Details
1965 Volume 13 Issue 4 Pages 193-205,252
The purpose of this study is to clarify the differences of the group effect between cooperation and competition from the point of educational sociopsychology. For this purpose three variables (group participation, group cohesiveness and group productivity) were introduced, and hypotheses on the differences of these groups on three variables were examined.
523 four-member groups (266 cooperation groups, 257 competition groups), consisting of 6th grade children, were used.The subjects were required to accomplish two tasks (puzzle and discussion problem) in cooperative (CO group) or competitive (CM group) situation.The measure of group productivity is the achievement level of the tasks of the group.In both situations the verbal interactions among the members were permitted.After the two tasks were accomplished group participation scale (SPA) and group cohesiveness scale (ATG) were administrated. The group participation scale consisted of three subscales (solidarity, power and affiliation scale). In addition to the group cohesiveness scale, sociometric data were obtained before and after the experiment. All the measures were treated as the measure of group level.
The main findings are as follows:
1) CO groups gained higher scores in the all subscales and total score of group participation scale than CM groups.The greatest difference between two groups was found on the power scale
2) On the group cohesiveness, CO groups had a higher score than CM groups, and the similar tendencies were found in the positive change of sociometric score.Most correlations between the interpersonal attractiveness measured by sociometri test and the measure of group cohesiveness were significant.
3) The similar differences between these groups were found on the group productivity.CO groups were more productive than CM groups.
4) To examine the the effect of the group structure which are related to intelligence level of the members, hierarchical groups (A, B, C) and equalitarian groups (D1, D2) were constructed. After the analysis of variance was examined, the differences among these groups on the scores of group participation (solidarity, power and affiliation), group cohesiveness and group productivity were found.Generally, high intelligence groups were superior to low intelligence groups on the scores of all the measures in this study.
5) It suggested to us the dynamic characteristics
of CO and CM groups and the need to examine the multiple correlations among the group participation, group cohesiveness and group productivity.
The findings of this study may present some suggestions to the understanding of the group learning and classroom dynamics in education (social learning).
