THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WAS CONCERNED WITH THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CONDITIONS UPON THE SELECTION OF A GROUP'S LEVEL OF ASPIRATION AND THE EFFECTS OF THESE CONDITIONS ON MEMBERS' COPING BEHAVIOR. SEVEN EXPERIMENTS WERE DESIGNED WHICH UTILIZED MALE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF SUBURBAN SCHOOLS AS SUBJECTS. RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE VARIOUS EXPERIMENTS INDICATED THAT THE LEVEL OF ASPIRATION THEORY, ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED AS AN EXPLANATION OF GOAL SETTINGS BY INDIVIDUALS, WAS USEFUL IN EXAMINING THE NATURE OF GROUP ASPIRATIONS. IT WAS ALSO INDICATED THAT ADDITIONS TO THE ASPIRATION THEORY DEVELOP WHEN GROUP GOALS ARE INVOLVED. FINDINGS ARE STATED AS--(1) THE ORIGINS OF GROUP ASPIRATIONS AND SUBSEQUENT CHANGES IN THEM ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE FOR PERSONAL ASPIRATIONS, (2) MEMBERS DISTORT THEIR EXPECTATIONS OF THEIR GROUP'S FUTURE PERFORMANCE WHEN INFLUENCED TO DO SO BY EXTERNAL AGENTS SO THAT THEY SELECT UNDULY HIGH OR LOW GROUP ASPIRATIONS, (3) A MEMBER'S EVALUATION OF HIS GROUP'S PERFORMANCE IS A FUNCTION OF THE DISCREPANCY BETWEEN PERFORMANCE OF THE GROUP AND THE LEVEL OF ASPIRATION OF THAT GROUP, (4) MEMBERS OF A GROUP ENGAGE IN COPING BEHAVIOR INTENDED TO AVOID POTENTIAL NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES FOLLOWING A POOR OR GOOD PERFORMANCE, AND (5) A MEMBER DEVELOPS A MOTIVE FOR HIS GROUP TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS (OR TO AVOID FAILURE) WHICH INFLUENCES THE DIRECTION AND VIGOR OF HIS GROUP BEHAVIOR. (WB)