Cooperative, competitive, or individualistic? Exploring the role of social interdependence in the classroom

ABSTRACT

This study examines how different social interdependence structures influence students’ perceptions of anticipated affective learning, motivation, classroom communication apprehension, and classroom climate. Participants were randomly assigned one of three conditions (cooperative, competitive, and individualistic) and were asked to complete a short survey. The highest levels of affective learning and motivation were found in the individualistic structure, followed by the cooperative and competitive structures. Regarding classroom communication apprehension, students in the competitive structure were most apprehensive, followed by students in the cooperative and individualistic structures. Finally, both students in the cooperative structure and students in the individualistic structure viewed their classroom climate more favorably than students in the competitive classroom.

KEYWORDS:

• social interdependence
• affective learning
• motivation
• classroom communication apprehension
• classroom climate