Group Cohesiveness as a Determinant of Egocentric Perceptions in Cooperative Groups

Abstract

It has been consistently found that members of cooperative groups claim greater personal responsibility for their group's performance after a group success rather than failure. However, when high group cohesiveness is present, norms and interpersonal bonds may exist that mitigate against taking high personal credit for success and low blame for failure. Hence, it was hypothesized that in high cohesive groups, there would be little or no relationship between the assignment of personal responsibility and the quality of the group product, while in low cohesive groups, responsibility would be directly related to the quality of the group product. To test this hypothesis, 96 subjects interacted in four-person, problem-solving groups. Supposedly on the basis of prior individual test scores, subjects were informed that they were either highly compatible (high cohesiveness) or incompatible (low cohesiveness) with the other group members. After the group tasks, subjects were told that their group had been either very successful, very unsuccessful, or average on the problems. The predicted interaction between cohesiveness and performance feedback was obtained on ratings of personal responsibility, average member responsibility, and best group member responsibility. In high cohesive groups, the assignment of responsibility was unrelated to group performance, while in low cohesive groups, the assignment of responsibility was directly related to group performance. A comparable interaction was obtained on ratings of relative leadership within the group. In low cohesive groups, feelings of relative leadership were greater under success rather than failure conditions, while in high cohesive groups, relative leadership was unrelated to group performance.