Knocking on the outgroup's door: Seeking outgroup help under conditions of task or relational conflict

Three studies investigated the willingness to seek help from another group in situations where collaborative goals are undermined by task or relational conflicts between the groups. Compared to task conflict, relational conflict was argued to trigger a striving for more autonomy. The results from three experiments (N=82, N=65, and N=62) supported the prediction that relational conflict, compared to task conflict, promotes more help avoidance, in particular avoidance of dependency-oriented help (a full solution). As expected, no difference was found for the willingness to seek autonomy oriented help (a hint) from the other group. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC