The Potential Buffering Effects of Group Interaction on Emotional Responses to Differential Outcomes

Abstract

Participants were given a questionnaire, consisting of schematic drawings of children and adolescents in interindividual and intergroup contexts, to assess their perceptions about how their typical same-sex peers feel when they are experiencing relative success or failure in developmentally relevant domains. In Study 1, 192 participants in grade 4 and grade 10 came from mixed-sex schools. In Study 2, 173 participants in grades four, five and ten were recruited from same-sex schools. Results indicated that participants judged their typical same-sex peers to feel better when experiencing relative success in an intergroup as compared to interindividual context. In the same-sex schools participants also reported more positive feelings in an intergroup context when experiencing relative failure. Discussion centers on the implications for achievement and performance in educational contexts.