Failure and defeat as determinants of group cohesiveness

Two experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis that failure or defeat increases group cohesion where members feel personally responsible for acting on the basis of group membership. Experiment 1 manipulated success or failure on a cooperative task where subjects (40 male and 40 female undergraduates) experienced high or low choice about doing the group task. Experiment 2 manipulated victory or defeat in intergroup competition under conditions of high or low commitment to the group (the subjects were 64 13‐ and 14‐year‐old schoolgirls). It was predicted and found that negative outcomes produced more cohesiveness than positive outcomes with high choice or high commitment, but less with low choice or low commitment. In addition, counter‐intuitive interaction effects were obtained on measures of self‐esteem and the causal attribution of group performance: in Expt 2 under high commitment, defeat increased cohesion and self‐esteem at the same time that it was attributed to internal factors. It is argued that increased cohesion following failure or defeat is a product of identification with a group to justify and explain behaviour which incurs costs.