Group Dissent and Group Performance as Determinants of Egocentric Perceptions.

摘要

To study the effects of group dissent and performance on members' attributions about their group's dynamics, 144 male subjects worked in four-person problem-solving groups. After providing recommendations for group solutions to a series of problems, subjects learned that they had been either consistently in the group's majority or minority -- where majority decisions were binding upon the entire group -- and that either few (low dissent) or many (high dissent) group members had disagreed with the majority. Subjects were then informed that their group had done extremely well, average, or very poorly on the problems and were asked for their perceptions of the group's activities. Majority subjects rated their personal performance and personal responsibility for the group's performance more highly than did minority subjects except when the group failed. Under failure conditions, majority subjects avoided high personal responsibility. Subjects in failing groups also assigned less responsibility for the group's performance to themselves than they assigned to the 'poorest group member.' Members of high dissent groups assumed more personal responsibility for group performance than did subjects in low dissent groups. Being in the majority, though, did lead to feelings of personal dominance in the group.