This investigation used social psychological concepts in analysis of social processes among pupils engaged in a cooperative task. It explored several ways of increasing interdependence among participants and determined the effects of such conditions on pupil performance. The subjects were 228 randomly selected fourth and fifth grade students. The…

This study examined the effects of different degrees of task structure on leadership between 18 married parents, 18 childless married spouses, and 18 unmarried men and women who comprised newly acquainted couples. Each couple completed three tasks which varied along the dimension of task structure and the order of task presentation. Analysis of…

A review of the literature on cooperative, competitive, and independent reward structures and performance is presented, and conclusions are drawn which reformulate current beliefs about the interaction between reward structure and task structure. A brief theory of reward structure and performance is described, and conditions under which…

This paper reports on an investigation of the interdependent relationship between ecological classroom dimensions and kindergarten students' task-related classroom behaviors, studied independently of personalities or age-group generalizations. Major purposes of the study were: (1) to identify and describe the main action structures observed in the…