Attraction to Competent and Incompetent Members of Cooperative and Competitive Groups1

Abstract

A laboratory experiment and a reanalysis of data collected in a previous field study examined the effects of cooperation and competition on liking for other group members who varied in competence. It was hypothesized that when other members of a cooperative group are relatively incompetent, they will tend to be disliked because they decrease the subject's chances of success. On the other hand, in competitive groups incompetent group members should not be disliked because they do not reduce the probability of the subject's success. Both the laboratory experiment and the field study found support for these suggestions. In addition, in the field study it was found that the race of the other group members did not affect these tendencies. Other results from the present study yielded information concerning some of the psychological processes that determine attraction in cooperative and competitive groups. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for the use of cooperative groups in desegregated schools.