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Social Loafing

The Role of Task Attractiveness

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

The present investigation examined the hypothesis that internal group pressures to maximize productivity would moderate social loafing (the decrease of individual effort as group size increases). Subjects, working in either two-or four-person groups, were told to construct as many folded paper products as they could in a fixed time period. Task attractiveness, a determinant of productivity, was manipulated. As predicted, social loafing occurred in the low task attractiveness conditions. In high task attractiveness conditions, a social enhancement effect occurred where four-person groups outperformed two-person groups.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 1, 99-106 (1984)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167284101011


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