Illusion, disillusion, and the buffering effect of groups

After performing a task, groups typically hold positive illusions about their performance while individuals hold negative illusions (Jourden & Heath, 1996). This paper reconciles negative illusions with previous research on positive illusions by showing that individuals hold positive illusions before a task but become disillusioned during task performance. Post-performance disillusionment is stronger when people experience a larger contrast between the targets they set before a task and their actual performance. Group members also experience disillusionment but manage to maintain their positive illusions. Group activity produces higher mean levels of positive affect (the enthusiasm effect), and severs the relationship between negative affect and performance evaluations (the buffering effect). An analysis shows that these two effects hold across six studies. Although previous literature has highlighted the enthusiasm effect of group activity, the buffering effect increases performance evaluations three times more. (C) 1997 Academic Press.