The Gap Between Perceived and Actual Learning From Group Reflection

Group reflection is often used as an intervention to facilitate group performance, but reflecting in groups may also affect individual learning. In this article, we compare the effects of individual and group reflection on individuals’ learning in two pairs of decision-making tasks. In two studies, we found that individuals who reflected in groups improved their performance from Task 1 to 2. However, individuals who reflected in groups did not realize greater performance improvements than individuals who reflected alone. Furthermore, individuals who reflected alone perceived that they learned more than individuals who reflected in groups. We discuss the implications of the gap between perceived and actual learning and describe the implications of our findings for group research, as well as recommendations for future research.