GROUP COHESIVENESS: A LEARNING PHENOMONON.

The purpose of this paper has been twofold: to offer propositions to test the existence of lawful relationships among variables relevant to small group behavior; and to illustrate the applicability of a general behavior theory to this specific problem area within social psychology. The concept of group cohesiveness, which occupies a central position within this problem area, was reformulated within the framework of reinforcement learning theory and a number of specific hypotheses, derived from the theory, regarding the antecedents and consequents of cohesiveness, was presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]