Cross-cultural psychology has begun to analyze cultural differences on collectivism and the implications of these differences for social processes such as group productivity. This study examined natural social interaction during a problem-solving task that required discussion and the establishment of a consensus. The relationship of collectivist values to social interaction was examined by comparing 10 pairs of white, English-speaking undergraduates from the United States, a highly individualistic society and 9 pairs of Hispanic undergraduates who have been found to be collectivistic. Subjects, none of whom knew each other, performed a group-process task simulation, "Lost at Sea." Pairs were videotaped while working on the task and were given a questionnaire to rate their own and the partner's behavior during the task on 32 adjectives. Transcriptions of Hispanic pairs' verbal interactions were translated to English, cultural backgrounds were disguised, and transcriptions were content-analyzed. The results revealed that, compared to the English-speaking students, Hispanic pairs tended to interact less and to evidence significantly higher probabilities of uncooperative or aggressive verbal behaviors and lower probabilities of cooperative or constructive behaviors. Because the Hispanics' collectivist orientation is more likely to be evidenced among family and friends, results must be interpreted in view of the differing affiliative patterns of the subjects. (NB)