Reducing Threat in Cooperative Learning: The Role of Decentering

Previous research in cooperative learning has demonstrated that working on identical information may elicit comptence threat: Partners try to affirm their competence by focusing on their own position, which results in reduced learning. The present study tested a decentering procedure (emphasizing the complementarity of multiple viewpoints) as a way to reduce this threat when working on identical information.

Forty-four students discussed one text either with or without decentering. Results indicated that students working with decentering reported a marginally more positive relationship with their partner, less competence threat, and they had better learning performance. Decentering canceled out the negative relationship between perceived partner’s competence and student performance, emphasizing its usefulness in overcoming the negative effects of competence threat when working on identical information.