Group Performance and Cohesiveness: An Attribution Analysis

Summary The study addressed the issue of how cohesiveness can be maintained in the face of group failure as well as success. It was hypothesized that two group-serving patterns of attribution for success and failure enhance cohesion: (a) diffusing responsibility for performance to the entire group rather than focusing on specific subgroups or individual group members and (b) attributing more responsibility for failure to self and less to other group members, and not attributing a more than equal share of success to self. An intercollegiate athletic team which experienced repeated failure but nevertheless maintained a high level of cohesion was examined in terms of the attributions team members made for an entire season of 25 games. Strong evidence for both group-serving patterns of attribution was obtained, even when these patterns eliminated the possibility for group members to be self-serving.