Influence

(lu) #1

One of us, assigned to observe the group process, would inter-
vene with a bit of advice when she overheard such comments:
“Okay, you can tease him if you want to,” she said, “and that
might be fun for you, but it’s not going to help you learn about
Joseph Pulitzer’s middle years. The exam will take place in about
an hour.” Notice how she changed the reinforcement contingencies.
Now Mary doesn’t gain much from putting Carlos down, and she
stands to lose a great deal. After a few days and several such ex-
periences, it began to dawn on these kids that the only chance they
had to learn about Carlos’s segment was by paying attention to
what Carlos had to say.
And with that realization, the kids began to develop into pretty
good interviewers, sort of junior Dick Cavetts. Instead of teasing
Carlos or ignoring him, they learned to draw him out, to ask the
questions that made it easier for him to explain out loud what was
in his head. Carlos, in turn, relaxed more, and this improved his
ability to communicate. After a couple of weeks, the children
concluded that Carlos wasn’t nearly as dumb as they thought he
was. They saw things in him they hadn’t seen before. They began
to like him more, and Carlos began to enjoy school more and think
of his Anglo classmates not as tormentors but as friends.^17
There is a tendency when faced with positive results like those from
the jigsaw classroom to become overly enthusiastic about a single,
simple solution to a tenacious problem. Experience should tell us that
such problems rarely yield to a simple remedy. That is no doubt true
in this case, as well. Even within the boundaries of cooperative learning
procedures, the issues are complex. Before we can feel truly comfortable
with the jigsaw, or any similar approach to learning and liking, much
more research is needed to determine how frequently, in what size
doses, at which ages, and in which sorts of groups cooperative strategies
will work. We also need to know the best way for teachers to institute
new methods—provided they will institute them at all. After all, not
only are cooperative learning techniques a radical departure from the
traditional, familiar routine of most teachers, they may also threaten
the teacher’s sense of importance in the classroom by turning over much
of the instruction to the students. Finally, we must realize that compet-
ition has its place, too. It can serve as a valuable motivator of desirable
action and an important builder of self-concept. The task, then, is not
to eliminate academic competition but to break its monopoly in the
classroom by introducing regular cooperative successes that include
members of all ethnic groups.^18
Despite these qualifications, I cannot help but be encouraged by the


Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D / 139
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