Ethnic Factors and the Effectiveness of Individual and Group Contingencies Upon Performance

The present study was designed to determine (1) whether reward is more effective when based upon group rather than individual achievement, and (2) whether children of different ethnic backgrounds (Anglo vs. Mexican-American) respond differently to group and individual reinforcement contingencies. Nine classes of fifth grade students from the Albuquerque public schools participated in a two-week study of the effects of individual reinforcement, group reinforcement, and group reinforcement plus individual recognition on academic and cooperative behavior. Each class participated in spelling, coding and science tasks as measures of academic behavior. Cooperative behavior was defined as the number of students working in groups while studying for the science task. Measures of altruistic behavior, feelings of closeness toward class members (sociometric choice) and preference for method of receiving reward were also gathered