Motivation gains in performance groups: Paradigmatic and theoretical developments on the Kohler effect

In contrast to many demonstrations of social leafing, relatively few studie s have documented group motivation gains. One such exception was O. Kohler' s (1926, 1927) finding that team members working together did better at a t axing persistence task than would be expected from their individual perform ances, particularly when there was a moderate discrepancy in coworkers' cap abilities. In Experiment 1, we developed a paradigm within which Kohler's o verall motivation gain effect could be replicated, although the discrepancy in coworkers' capabilities did not moderate these motivation gains (after statistical artifacts were taken into account). Experiment 2 indicated that this motivation gain occurred under conjunctive but not under additive tas k demands, suggesting that the instrumentality of one's contribution to val ued outcomes is a more likely explanation of the Kohler effect than social comparison processes.