In three experiments investigating both the features of cooperative learning in pairs that lead to improved mastery and retention of information and transfer of learning strategies to individual situations and the individual characteristics that contribute to cooperative learning outcomes, 126 college students studied excerpts from expository texts and were tested on retention of main ideas and details. Students worked either in pairs or individually, with or without experimenter-provided learning strategies. In the cooperative learning situations, one partner summarized the text read while the other either simply listened or provided elaborative and corrective feedback. Recaller/listener roles were either fixed or alternated. Effects of cooperative learning strategies on individual learning tasks were also assessed in a transfer task and eight measures of cognitive style and ability were administered. Findings showed that (1) cooperative learning was consistently more effective than individual learning, (2) recallers consistently learned more than listeners, (3) the summary recall and feedback strategy transferred positively from cooperative to individual learning situations, and (4) field independent and highly verbal partners facilitated the learning of field dependent and moderate verbal ability partners, with no adverse consequences to themselves. (Numerous tables summarizing the data are included within the text.) (MM)