Cooperation, competition, and interpersonal attitudes in small groups

Abstract

Previous theorizing maintains that interpersonal attitudes of cooperating and competing individuals are primarily a function of the antecedent motivational interdependence that characterizes these relations. The present experiment sought to establish if outcomes, rather than motivational antecedents, of cooperation and competition are a sufficient condition of the resultant interpersonal attitudes. Two-man teams played a non-zero sum game, in which one member of each team always increased the likelihood of his team’s success, while the other always decreased it. Successful members were found to have more favorable attitudes toward their opponents than toward their teammates. The opposite results were obtained for unsuccessful members. While the evidence for the dependence of interpersonal attitudes upon the outcomes of cooperation and competition was clear, no support was found for the hypothesis that interpersonal attitudes also depend on antecedent motivational interdependence. © 1967, Psychonomic Press. All rights reserved.