Group vs Individual Performance in Mixed-Motive Situations: Exploring an Inconsistency

Previous research has shown that groups, as compared to individuals, perform better on integrative bargaining tasks (Thompson, Peterson, & Brodt, 1996), but worse on dilemma tasks (i.e., the “discontinuity effect”; Schopler & Insko, 1992). After reaching agreement on either a cooperative or a competitive integrative bargaining task in one of three formats (three-person group vs three-person group, three-person group vs a single individual, and individual vs individual), participants were given the opportunity to either keep the agreement or defect within a prisoner's dilemma payoff structure. Groups earned more points than individuals in the bargaining task, but continued to show the discontinuity effect even in the cooperative condition. Results are interpreted in terms of shared motives for group defection, which differed depending on whether the opponent was an individual or a group.     

Individual Versus Group Decision Making: Social Comparison in Goals for Individual Task Performance

This experiment compares the decisions of individuals and groups on goals for the performance expected from individuals on a problem-solving or an error-checking task. For both tasks, two versions were constructed to reflect low and high levels of task difficulty. Predictions from two different social comparison of abilities approaches were formulated, with the social comparison based on success approach predicting that group goals would be easier than individual goals, while social comparison based on performance predicted the opposite pattern. Consistent with the social comparison based on success predictions, group goals were observed to be significantly less difficult than individual goals for both tasks, both levels of task difficulty, and for both an initial and a second goal-setting occasion. Of particular interest was a finding that the easier group goals reflected group member preferences for easy goals in anticipation of group decision making. It is proposed that social factors such as evaluation apprehension and social comparison may be responsible for the differences observed in group and individual goal decisions, and that social factors may have an important role in a variety of goal-setting situations.     

IV. A Family Group Therapy Technique for a Stalemate in Individual Treatment

Abstract

This paper explores the trend away from offering process-oriented groups on inpatient units, given decreasing lengths of stay, increasing acuity levels, and current biases toward psychoeducational groups and cognitive-behavioral treatments. A model for doing process-oriented groups that provides a structure while allowing a theme to emerge and maximal interaction to take place is presented. A case is made for the benefits of process-oriented inpatient groups as compared to, and complementary with, psychoeducational, cognitive, and behavioral approaches. Clinical vignettes illustrate typical themes and dynamics emerging in process-oriented inpatient groups.     

Tradeoffs Between Ideas and Structure: Individual Versus Group Performance in Creative Problem Solving

The present effort was intended to assess how situational variables influence the relative performance of groups and individuals on creative problem-solving tasks. More specifically, a priming manipulation was used to increase the number of alternatives available for problem solving while training was used to provide groups with shared mental models bearing on the problem. It was found that having more ideas available led to better individual performance. Group performance, however, was enhanced by training appropriate to problem content that allowed for elaboration and refinement of ideas. These findings indicate that interventions intended to enhance creativity may have different effects at the individual and group level. The need to consider multiple levels of situational influences in attempts to understand creative achievement is discussed.     

Effects of 7.5% CO2-Induced Anxiety on Individual Performance During a Group Computer Combat Game

The inhalation of 7.5% CO₂ has been shown to induce cognitive effects similar to anxiety. Sixteen healthy participants (14 male; mean age 25.6 years) inhaled either a mixture of 7.5% CO₂ gas or air while playing a group combat computer game. Participants reported greater feelings of anxiety and fired fewer bullets when inhaling CO₂ compared with air, indicating CO₂-induced anxiety may improve efficiency without task-related decrements. Being able to induce controlled and measured anxiety in group situations by CO₂ inhalation may be a useful technique when evaluating response to stressful situations, such as combat, in simulators or real-life scenarios.     

A Comparison of Individual and Group Contingencies on Spelling Performance with Special Education Students

The effects of individual and group contingencies on the spelling accuracy of 10 special education students were assessed in a counterbalanced multiple-baseline design. Experimental manipulations were introduced at random. During the Baseline condition no consequence for accuracy in spelling was provided. With the Group Contingency, pupils earned points based on accuracy and exchanged them for activity back-up reinforcers based on the average performance of the group. During the Individual Contingency arrangement, the same point totals were awarded by "yoking" pupils to the group behavioral criteria. The results revealed superior accuracy during the group contingency by all 10 pupils. Differences in student preferences with respect to the two contingency arrangements were not found. Negative peer comments were low over the duration of the experiment. The findings were discussed in terms of east of implementation in a special classroom setting and research data from other studies were provided.     

Individual Consequences Versus Different Shared Consequences Contingent on the Performance of Low-Achieving Group Members1

The effects of four reinforcement conditions (individual consequence, group-shared consequence, and two different proportions of individual and group-shared consequence) on (a) peer tutoring, (b) arithmetic performance, (c) studying, (d) nonstudying, and (e) disruptive behavior were measured employing 60 experimental and 34 comparison children from three fifth-grade classes in an inner-city school. The 100% shared consequence consistently produced the highest incidence of peer tutoring as well as the greatcst increment in the number of correct problems, both within and between periods. As the proportion of shared consequences decreased, the number of problems worked correctly decreased. Concurrently, the incidence in peer tutoring decreased as the proportion of shared consequences decreased. All consequences maintained high rates of studying behaviors and low rates of nonstudying and disruptive behaviors. The results of this study suggest that shared consequences may be useful in creating cooperative work patterns and increasing arithmetic performance in classroom settings.     

Individual Differences in Human Fixed-Interval Performance

The Psychological Record - Thirty-two undergraduates were exposed to a fixed-interval 60-s schedule. There were extreme individual differences in postreinforcement pauses and response rates. Such...     

Group Effects on Individual Learning Achievement

This study focuses on the impact of the social context of a class on student behaviour, in particular, the effects of pupil-pupil interaction on learning achievement. Two major functions of reference groups are distinguished: a normative and a comparative function. The normative function deals with norm setting and enforcing norms. The comparative function is merely a standard of comparison for the individual. This study deals with the question as to what extent contextual effects at classroom level can be accounted for by these two types of reference processes. The development of mathematical achievement of some 3,600 students in Year 8 (11 or 12 years of age) in about 200 primary schools in the Netherlands was followed. Students were asked to rate their classmates on two/three-point scales: a comparative scale and a normative scale. It appears that both the comparative and the normative reference structure of classes have substantial effects on individual achievement. The effect of the normative reference group, however, is by far the strongest.     

Individual Versus Collective Responses to Membership in a Low-Status Group: The Effects of Stability and Individual Ability

Abstract

To test predictions of social identity theory (SIT; M. A. Hogg & D. Abrams, 1988; H. Tajfel & J. C. Turner, 1979) and the 5-stage model (FSM; D. M. Taylor & D. J. McKirnan, 1984) concerning reactions to membership in a low-status group, the authors led 112 pupils to believe that another (anonymous) class outperformed their class. In an overall permeable and legitimate intergroup context, the authors manipulated the stability of the low group status and the individual ability of the group members. Contrary to SIT and FSM, the pupils generally favored collective normative action. Individual mobility was preferred only by group members, especially boys, with high individual ability who thought that the low status of their group was stable. The results support FSM assumptions (a) that individual ability is a powerful determinant of intergroup behavior but (b) that one should consider its impact in combination with perceived stability.     

Comparison of Dreams in Individual and Group Psychotherapy

This article gives specific reasons and evidence why group psychotherapy is the treatment of choice for addictions. Utilizing object relations theory and the self-psychology of Kohut, the authors present a model of group psychotherapy that combines these perspectives with those of Yalom's interactional group psychotherapy. Agreeing with Kohut and other object relation theorists, the authors view addiction as a condition that is the result of a person's misguided attempts at self-repair because of deficits in psychic structure. Vulnerability of self is the consequence of developmental failures and deprivation. Substance abuse only exacerbates this condition leading to exaggerated difficulty in regulation of affect, self-care, and characterological pathology. Abstinence is usually required as the first step in arresting this process and establishing a treatment regimen that will allow the vulnerabilities of the self to be altered and restored. This article suggests that this recovery and treatment process is best accomplished in a group therapy setting that is conducted within the guidelines of the principles of object relations theory and a modified version of Yalom's interactional group therapy format.     

The Effects of Monitoring Individual and Group Performance on the Distribution of Effort Across Tasks1

This study was concerned with the mechanism(s) via which performance monitoring affects task performance. To investigate whether an individual's concerns over the evaluation of his or her performance underlie the effects of performance monitoring (independent of contingent consequences) on the distribution of effort across tasks, the study examined whether the way in which individuals performed two tasks was differentially affected by the way in which supervisors monitored performance on those tasks. Subjects working in a group setting performed two different tasks for 90 minutes, their instructions being to perform as well as possible on each task. When supervisors periodically monitored the work output of each individual within the group on one of the two tasks, subjects perceived that the supervisor was evaluating and comparing individual performance, and produced more on the monitored task at the expense of the unmonitored task. When, however, the supervisor's monitoring focused on group rather than individual products, subjects perceived that the supervisor was less likely to be able to evaluate and to compare individual performance, and their performance on the two tasks was the same, regardless of which task was monitored. Path analysis supported the interpretation that the effects of monitoring on performance were mediated by evaluation concerns associated with performance on each task.     

Effect of Self- and Group Efficacy on Group Performance in a Mixed-Motive Situation

The effect of self- and group efficacy on the performance of three-person (N = 26) and seven-person (N = 28) groups on a mixed-motive investment task was investigated. The correlations between group efficacy for making money and the actual amount of money made by the groups were positive and significant. The relation between group efficacy and the group's performance was reciprocal. The results also indicated that members of three-person groups had significantly higher perceptions of group efficacy than members of seven-person groups even though they faced the identical mixed-motive investment task. The correlations between group efficacy and the group's performance were significantly higher than the correlations between aggregated values of self-efficacy for individual performance and the group's performance. Finally, multiple regression analyses showed that self-efficacy for individual performance had a negative effect on the group's performance.     

The Relation between Individual and Group Conflicts in Psychotherapy

Abstract

I describe three constellations of group life and group process: resistance, rebellion, and refusal. In resistance, an individual or group remains antagonistic to conscious but not unconscious thinking, the latter manifested in derivatives, including symbol and symptom formation, transference–countertransference, and enactment. Rebellion functions on the level of conscious thinking, manifested in challenge, defiance, and the possibility of sociopolitical action. The basic premises and values of the group and/or leader are at the center of the controversy, to be addressed on that level. Refusal establishes a mental boundary between what is considered appropriate and inappropriate. Unconsciousaswellasconscious processes of feeling, thinking, and meaning making are refused entry, left undeveloped, rejected, or obstructed. Working with refusal requires appreciating how and why the mind and its thinking operations are being suspended. The theoretical framework is applied to a case example.     

Psychoanalysis and Diplomacy: Part I. Individual and Large Group Identity

Starting with Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysts have written on a variety of topics relating to the diplomatic and political realms; but thus far their contributions primarily have been theoretical in nature, and have offered little of practical use to most diplomats and politicians. Various psychoanalytic theories have been applied, resulting in diverse conceptualizations: Wars are inevitable because of our inherent aggressive drives; a nation-state serves a maternal function for its members; certain large groups exhibit behaviors similar to those of adolescents. Yet these ideas do not significantly help us understand day-to-day events around the world, practical political issues, or international relations and diplomatic decisions.