SummaryThe effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic experiences on cross-ethnic, cross-sex, and cross-ability interpersonal attraction were compared. Seventh-grade, lower-class, and working-class students from an inner-city junior high school were studied during English, geography, and science classes. Students (N = 60) were randomly assigned to conditions stratifying for sex, ethnic membership, and ability; they participated in the experiment for three hours a day for 15 instructional days. The results indicate that when students who were initially prejudiced against one another were present in the same situation, cooperative experiences promoted more interpersonal attraction than did competitive or individualistic experiences, and competitive experiences promoted more interpersonal attraction than did individualistic experiences.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Johnson et al. (1980) studied this question.