Working in Groups and Alone: Effects of Group Gender Composition on Cognitive Insight Problem Solving Performance

This study examined how working within a group versus working alone affects creative problem solving and what role gender plays in influencing problem solving performance. Previous studies yielded contradictory predictions of whether working in a group improves or impedes creative problem solving performance and whether gender has an effect on problem solving efficiency of a group. I proposed that contradictory results of the previous studies might have been due to the gender by group interaction. Two hundred and six Old Dominion University undergraduate students participated in this study. A 2 (groups vs. individual) X 3 (gender group composition) X 2 (problem type) ANOVA was used to analyze the data The results of the study showed that males and females were affected differently by gender group composition: all-female groups exchanged more interaction and offered more problem solving suggestions than did all-male or mixed-gender groups, thus taking longer to solve problems than all-male and mixed-gender groups or individual performers. Females working with other females offered more problem-solving suggestions and had more interactions than when working with a male. The study did not find any difference between individual and group performance.