Accession Number:

ADA151003

Title:

Perceived Heterogeneity and Its Effect on Various Types of Tasks.

Descriptive Note:

Final rept.,

Corporate Author:

INDIANA UNIV-PURDUE UNIV AT INDIANAPOLIS

Personal Author(s):

• Adams-Terem,R.
• Fross,J.
• Landis,D.
• Hayles,R.

Report Date:

1985-02-01

Pagination or Media Count:

35.0

Abstract:

This study investigated the effects of group composition and evaluation instructions on a motor task, a creative-cognitive task and a cognitive decision-making task. An anonymous group technique was used to control for extraneous variables that are frequently present in small group studies. The subjects were 48 females from undergraduate courses at the University of Hawaii. A 2 x 4 composition X instruction ANOVA was computed performance on each tasks. A significant main effect for group, showing improvement under perceived heterogeneous affiliation, was found using the creative cognitive dependent variable p .05. Significant group x instruction interactions were found for the cognitive decision-making task p less than .02 and the motor task p less than .04. These findings are addressed in terms of factors inherent in the composition of the groups and nature of the tasks. Implications for future research are outlined and discussed. Originator supplied keywords include Heterogeneity, evaluation pay-offs, effect of culture, task analysis.

Descriptors:

• *DECISION MAKING
• *GROUP DYNAMICS
• *COGNITION
• TEST METHODS
• HETEROGENEITY
• INSTRUCTIONS
• CULTURE
• FEMALES
• MOTOR REACTIONS

Subject Categories:

• Psychology

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE