A STUDY OF THE ADDITIVITY OF VARIABLES AFFECTING SOCIAL INTERACTION.

The article provides information on a study which investigated the additivity of variables affecting social interaction. The interacting pairs were confronted with a task demanding perceptual judgment. The variables that were tested significantly affected the degree of social interaction in the predicted direction. One effect of prior cooperative experience was to decrease the variability of response among subjects. It was concluded that prediction of individual behavior in a social interaction situation is possible only when the factors affecting interaction point in the same direction.