Effect of a Collective Project on Group Cohesion

DOCUMENT RESUME CG 010 889 Shipley, Robert H. Effect of a Collective Project on Group Cohesion. [74] 18p.; Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (83rd, Chicago, Illinois, August 30 to September 2, 1975) Robert H. Shipley, Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center, Columbia, Missouri 65201 MF-$0.83 HC-$1.67 Plus Postage. *Creative Art; *Group Dynamics; *Group Therapy; Group Unity; *Interaction Process Analysis; *Mental Health Programs; *Occupational Therapy; Research Projects; Verbal Communication Immediately before their second group therapy session, 10 newly formed inpatient therapy groups were randomly assigned to complete either collective or individual art projects. The members of a group in the collective-project condition completed a single art project as a group. Each member of a group assigned to the individual project condition completed an individual art project. In the therapy session which followed, groups in the collective-project condition showed a decrease in physical distance between group members relative to a baseline therapy session and relative tip groups in the individual-project condition. These groups also scored higher on a questionnaire measure of cohesion. The questionnaire and intermember-distance measures of group cohesion correlated highly. Intermember distance returned to baseline during a follow-up therapy session. No differences were found during the therapy sessions in the frequency of three types of verbal behavior. It was concluded that collective art projects may be used to increase cohesion in ongoing therapy groups. Further exploration of intermember distance as a measure of group cohesion was suggested. (Author) ********************************************************************** Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) . EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made .from the original. *********************************************************************** Effect of a Collective Project on Group Cohesion Robert H. Shipley 2 Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center