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Nine combat engineering squads competed in their training and garrison duties to test the hypothesis that inter-group competition promotes close interpersonal relations among group members and improves morale and adjustment. Eighteen squads for whom no changes in training were introduced served as controls. Questionnaire measures of interpersonal relations and adjustment were obtained before and after a three month experimental period. Changes in self-perceptions and reactions to military life indicated clearly the relative improvement in adjustment of the members of competitive squads as compared with members of control squads. Men trained under competitive conditions also had a lowered level of manifest anxiety on the Taylor scale. Improvement in the quality of interpersonal relations was indicated by a significantly greater change in within-squad sociometric choices of combat leaders and work partners for the members of competitive squads. However, these improvements did not generalize to non-task aspects of relations among squad members. (Author)
Julian et al. (Sat,) studied this question.