Toward a reconciliation of diverging perspectives on interindividual-intergroup discontinuity: The role of procedural interdependence

This experiment investigated the effect of procedural interdependence on in terindividual-intergroup discontinuity (i.e., the tendency within mixed-mot ive situations for intergroup interactions to be more competitive than inte rindividual interactions) in Dutch and U.S. college populations. Groups com posed of members who were procedurally interdependent, groups composed of m embers who were procedurally independent, and individuals interacted with a programmed other on three trials of a Prisoner's Dilemma Game. Results acr oss trials indicate that procedurally interdependent group members were mor e competitive than pooled procedurally independent group members and indivi duals. The latter two conditions did not differ significantly. No significa nt effects involving participant nationality were observed. We propose that these findings reconcile diverging perspectives on interindividual-intergr oup discontinuity. (C) 2001 Academic Press.