This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shwalb, D. W. Articles by Murata, K. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Individualistic Striving and Group Dynamics of Fifth- and Eighth-Grade Japanese Boys

University of Michigan

Barbara J. Shwalb

University of Utah

Koji Murata

Tokyo University

Forty-two fifth-grade and 42 eighth-grade Japanese boys were videotaped in trios, building houses with playing cards during two experimental sessions. The experiment crossed group/individualized and competitive/noncompetitive aspects of task instructions and used a repeated measures design. Unlike most tasks used to study social loafing, the card stacking procedure encouraged social interaction and tested for the influence of competition. Eighth graders stacked more cards working individually than as trios, and this individualistic striving was strongest when the eighth graders were told to compete. Fifth graders exhibited no such difference for individualistic or competitive striving. Comparing the group dynamics of fifth and eighth graders, younger groups were significantly more socially interactive. The results were discussed in terms of the possible developmental origins of three patterns of Japanese adult behavior: social preoccupation, emerging in childhood, and individualism and competition, emerging from early adolescence.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?