Individualistic Striving and Group Dynamics of Fifth- and Eighth-Grade Japanese Boys

Forty-two fifth-grade and 42 eighth-grade Japanese boys were videotaped in trios, building houses with playing cards during two experimental sessions. The experiment crossed group/individualized and competitive/noncompetitive aspects of task instructions and used a repeated measures design. Unlike most tasks used to study social loafing, the card stacking procedure encouraged social interaction and tested for the influence of competition. Eighth graders stacked more cards working individually than as trios, and this individualistic striving was strongest when the eighth graders were told to compete. Fifth graders exhibited no such difference for individualistic or competitive striving. Comparing the group dynamics of fifth and eighth graders, younger groups were significantly more socially interactive. The results were discussed in terms of the possible developmental origins of three patterns of Japanese adult behavior: social preoccupation, emerging in childhood, and individualism and competition, emerging from early adolescence.