Effect of Feedback on Interpersonal Sensitivity in Laboratory Training Groups

Abstract

The 69 participants in the 1966 Rocky Mountain Workshop in Group Development, sponsored by the Adult Education Council of Metropolitan Denver, served as subjects in the present investigation. The study was designed to determine whether an instrumented feedback procedure based on sociometric ratings would help the members of laboratory training groups increase their sensitivity to others. It was found that subjects in experimental groups who filled out sociometric questionnaires and received feedback on their mutual ratings showed a significantly greater increase in sensitivity during a three-day period than control subjects who were not exposed to the sociometric procedure. Subjects in # i and # 2 control groups who rated one another but who did not receive feedback did not show a significant increase in sensitivity between the beginning and the end of the workshop, regardless of a time control in the administration of the questionnaire.

Delivery of positive and corrective feedback in counseling groups.

“…The exchange of feedback among group members is widely considered to be an essential element in promoting interpersonal learning within the therapeutic group setting. Members benefit by learning more about themselves from the feedback they receive and by the sense of contribution and the increased interpersonal sensitivity that is realized as a result of giving feedback to others (Myers, Myers, Goldberg & Welch, 1969; Kaul & Bednar, 1978).…”

Feedback exchange in counseling groups: An analysis of message content and receiver acceptance as a function of leader versus member delivery, session, and valence.

“…There is, in fact, considerable support for viewing feedback as one of the most important dimensions of the therapeutic group process (Bednar & Kaul, 1978; Bennis, 1964; Campbell & Dunnette, 1968; Jacobs, 1974). Results of several studies have demonstrated that feedback over and above that normally occurring is related to more successful group and individual outcomes (Flowers & Booraem, 1976; Jenkins, 1948; Kolb, Winter, & Berlew, 1968; Myers, Myers, Goldberg, & Welch, 1969; Stock, 1964).…”

Group sensitivity training: Update, meta-analysis, and recommendations.

“…Butler & Ese, 1983; Davies & Jacobs, 1985; Fisher & Ellis, 1990; Haslett & Oglivie, 1988; M. Jacobs, Jacobs, Feldman, & Cavior, 1973; Kivlighan, 1985; Myers, Myers, Goldberg, & Welch, 1969).…”