The Unpacking Effect in Allocations of Responsibility for Group Tasks

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 41, pp. 447-457, 2005

11 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2010

See all articles by Kenneth Savitsky

Kenneth Savitsky

Williams College - Department of Psychology

Wayne Wight

Williams College - Department of Psychology

Nicholas Epley

Harvard University

Leaf Van Boven

University of Colorado Boulder

Date Written: 2005

Abstract

Individuals tend to overestimate their relative contributions to collaborative endeavors. Thus, the sum of group members! estimates of the percentage they each contributed to a joint task typically exceeds the logically allowable 100%. We suggest that this tendency stems partly from individuals! inclination to regard their fellow group members as a collective rather than as individuals, and that leading people to think about their collaborators as individuals should therefore reduce the perceived relative magnitude of their own contributions. Consistent with this thesis, four experiments demonstrate that people!s tendency to claim more than their fair share of the credit for a group task is attenuated when they "unpack" their collaborators, conceptualizing them as separate individuals, rather than as "the rest of the group."

Suggested Citation

Savitsky, Kenneth and Wight, Wayne and Epley, Nicholas and Van Boven, Leaf, The Unpacking Effect in Allocations of Responsibility for Group Tasks (2005). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 41, pp. 447-457, 2005 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1532581

Kenneth Savitsky

Williams College - Department of Psychology ( email )

Williamstown, MA 01267
United States

Wayne Wight

Williams College - Department of Psychology

Bronfman Science Center
18 Hoxsey Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
United States

Nicholas Epley

Harvard University

1875 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Leaf Van Boven (Contact Author)

University of Colorado Boulder ( email )

University of Colorado Boulder
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, 345 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309
United States
303.735.5238 (Phone)
303.492.2967 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://psych.colorado.edu/~vanboven/

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