Motivational Mediators of Cooperative Learning

Abstract

Introductory psychology students, 43 men and 44 women, participated in an experiment comparing the effects of cooperative versus individualistic learning techniques on approval and achievement motivation and test performance. Subjects in cooperative learning groups reported higher need for social approval than subjects in individualistic learning groups. Need for social approval was more highly correlated with achievement motivation for subjects in cooperative learning groups than for those in individualistic learning groups. Being in a cooperative learning group did not result in improved test performance, but results indicated that cooperative learning techniques enabled students to coordinate their approval and achievement motivation by presenting academic excellence as a socially desirable behavior.