Psychological Mechanisms Underlying the Köhler Motivation Gain

Sometimes group work conditions lead to motivation gains rather than to social loafing. Two theoretical explanations for the Köhler motivation gain effect are identified, one stressing social comparison and a second stressing the indispensability of one's effort to the group. The results of thr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPersonality & social psychology bulletin Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 828 - 841
Main Authors Kerr, Norbert L., Messé, Lawrence A., Seok, Dong-Heon, Sambolec, Eric J., Lount, Robert B., Park, Ernest S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.06.2007
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Competitive Behavior
Cooperative Behavior
Experiments
Fatigue - psychology
Female
Gender differences
Gender Identity
Goals
Group identity
Group Processes
Group work
Humans
Men
Motivation
Physical Endurance
Physical Fitness - psychology
Priming
Psychological mechanisms
Psychological Theory
Set (Psychology)
Sex Factors
Social comparison
Social Facilitation
Social Identification
Social loafing
Weight Lifting - psychology
Women
Work environment
groups
performance
motivation gain
social comparison
indispensability
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Sometimes group work conditions lead to motivation gains rather than to social loafing. Two theoretical explanations for the Köhler motivation gain effect are identified, one stressing social comparison and a second stressing the indispensability of one's effort to the group. The results of three new experiments are reported. Experiment 1 suggested that both explanations are valid and contribute to the Köhler effect. Prior studies suggested that there might be gender differences in the relative importance of these two explanatory processes. Experiment 2 confirmed this suggestion. In Experiment 3, the gender difference was eliminated by priming women with a goal (viz., competition) presumed to be chronically more important to men. It is argued that the relative importance of these two motivational processes will depend on the immediate and chronic importance attached to more personal (viz., to achieve a favorable social comparison) versus collective (viz., to contribute to one's group) goals.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167207301020