Effects of group size, problem difficulty, and sex on group performance and member reactions.

Abstract

The present experiment (a) examined the influence of group size, task difficulty, and member sex on the relationship between actual productivity and potential productivity proposed by Steiner and (b) tested the predictive accuracy of the hierarchical and equalitarian latency models proposed by Restle and Davis. Participants worked three intellectual problems of varying difficulty, either as individuals or in same-sex groups of 2, 3, 6, and 10 members. Actual performance was assessed using indexes of the proportion of solvers and time to solution. Potential performance scores were generated from theoretical models for the same indexes. Group size and problem difficulty were important determinants of group performance, whereas member sex generally was not. Size and difficulty effects varied, however, depending upon choice of performance measure. For the proportion index, groups often worked up to their potential, but those same groups usually fell below potential on the latency index; they were effective but inefficient. Group performance on both indexes generally fell below potential as -^size and difficulty increased. The concept of "functional size" was advanced to explain the observed pattern of group performance. According to this notion, as group size increases the number of nonparticipators also increases, resulting in a functional group size smaller than actual size. The functional size analyses suggested that groups solved at the rate of the fastest member of the functional /._ group.It seems apparent that productivity in task-aspect of group performance. Although addioriented groups can be altered by the size of tional research has been conducted since that the group, and indeed the impact of group size review (e.g., Frank & Anderson, 1971; Hackis often mentioned in discussions of group per-

Need for cognition and active information search in small student groups

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