The Effects of Dyadic Group Experience in Subsequent Individual Performance

Summary

This study investigated whether working in pair groups would enhance subsequent individual performance, where the groups were composed of individuals having varying ability levels. The Ss were 208 tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students enrolled in two Midwestern high schools. The experiment was run in three sessions. In session one, all students on the basis of a performance test were categorized as low (L), middle (M), or high (H). In the second session, they worked either as individuals or in pair groups of all possible combinations of ability levels. In the third session they again worked as individuals. The results showed that group experience significantly enhanced the individual performance of students who were initially L, that subsequent individual performance improved significantly when students were paired with partners above them in ability level, and that, for students having group experience, Ls improved more than Ms and Hs, and Ms improved more than Hs.