Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the generality of the findings reported in Sugie (1976). The main concern in the former report was to study the conditions that evoke emulation and negative group effects even under the cooperative situation. It was considered that emulation was due to the rise of members' self-oriented needs. The group task in this experiment needs more time to perform than the former one, and a new condition of group composition is also added.
Subjects were 10-11 years old children. Members' ability was classified on the basis of the quantity level of information to solve the task (jigsaw puzzle) -very High (vH), High (H), and Low (L). Three kinds of dyad were composedvH-vH, H-H, and L-L. Two kinds of cooperative tasks (easy vs. difficult) differed in the requirement of the amount of members' interaction to perform it. After two training phases, main experiment was carried out. Emulation was examined by the contents of verbal interaction.
From the results of this study and Sugie (1976), the following points are considered.
(1) More emulation relatively occurs in the groups of only high ability members. But when the task requires more interaction, more emulation occurs in the groups of only very high ability members.
(2) On the productivity in the task area, the more members' interaction the task requires, the more superiority in the only high ability members group is shown. But on the other hand, in such a long task adopted here, it is interpreted that the results are induced by the inferiority of the other two conditions of group composition. One of the bases of this interpretation is that the failure of the role differenciation is found in such conditions.
(3) The tendency of negative effect of emulation is found in members' satisfaction.
