Positive interdependence

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Positive interdependence is an element of cooperative and collaborative learning where members of a group who share common goals perceive that working together is individually and collectively beneficial, and success depends on the participation of all the members. [1] [2]

Contents

In contrast to negative interdependence (i.e., individuals can only achieve their goal via the failure of a competitor) and no interdependence (i.e., a correlation does not exist between individuals' goals), positive interdependence happens when "individuals perceive that they can attain their goals if and only if the other individuals with whom they are cooperatively linked attain their goals". Consequently, positive interdependence results in members of a group "encouraging and facilitating each other's efforts...in order to reach the group's goals". [3]

Positive interdependence can also be understood by its effects on the psychological processes of learners in a group setting. It promotes substitutability (the degree to which actions of one group member substitutes for the actions of another), positive cathexis (investment of positive psychological energy in objects outside one's self), and inducibility (openness to influencing and being influenced by others), whereas Negative Interdependence creates nonsubstituability, negative cathexis and a resistance to being influenced by others. [4] [5]

Modern history

Derived from the constructivist learning theory and social psychology's social interdependence theory, positive interdependence theory is the foundation of modern collaborative and cooperative practice in business, science, and education.

Kurt Koffka, one of the founders of the gestalt school of psychology, proposed that interdependence was essential for a group to become a dynamic whole and recognized that interdependence will vary from one individual to another within the group. [6] As part of his early work in social and organizational psychology, his student Kurt Lewin theorized that the essence of the group gestalt depends on interdependence among members, and further, it is created by sharing a common goal. [3] His student, Morton Deutsch, [7] expanded on the social interdependence theory during his work on conflict resolution. Deutsch studied how the "tension systems" of different people within a group might be interrelated. Deutsch conceptualized the three types of interdependence: positive, negative, and none. [8]

A basic premise of social interdependence theory centers on the participant's goal structure which determines how they interact with one another. Other important variables for success include personal predisposition or cognitive bias. [9] and training in social cooperation and collaboration techniques. [7]

The social dominance theory is considered to be the opposite of social interdependence theory.

Cooperative and collaborative learning

David Johnson, Deutsch's student in the study of social psychology, with his brother Roger Johnson, a science educator, and their sister, educator Edye Johnson Holubec, further developed positive interdependence theory as part of their research and work in teacher and professional training at the Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota (founded in 1969).

Johnson, Johnson, and Holubek identify positive interdependence as the first essential element for successful cooperative learning. [1] Positive interdependence (cooperation) results in promotive interaction where individuals encourage and facilitate teammates' efforts to complete the task. Negative interdependence (competition) encourages contrient interaction where team members work to oppose or block the success of others on their team while working to further their own, individual goals. [3] Interpersonal interaction alone does not increase productivity or lead to higher achievement in learning groups; instead, positive interdependence is needed to produce those results. [10]

Johnson and Johnson structure interdependence using overlapping methods in three broad categories: Outcome interdependence includes the structure of goals and rewards. Means interdependence distributes roles, resources, and tasks in such a way that sharing is necessary in order to achieve a goal. Boundary interdependence defines discontinuities that segregate groups from one another while also serving to unify the individuals within each group. "Discontinuity can be created by environmental factors (groups separated around a room or in different rooms), similarity (all seated together or wearing the same shirt), expectations of being grouped together, and differentiation from other groups." [11]

Strategies

Common practices to facilitate it

Joint rewards, divided resources, and complementary roles are effective methods of facilitating positive interdependence. An example of a joint reward would be if everyone on the team received a bonus if all team members reach a specified score on a test. Dividing resources and roles among team members will force the participants to share their individual information or tool to achieve a common goal, and thus promote positive interdependence. [12]

Categories

Positive interdependence strategies can be categorized into four major groups:

Positive Goal Interdependence is achieved when learners share the same goals and perceive that group cooperation is essential in achieving these goals. Positive Resource Interdependence divvies up the resources or materials for completing the task by giving each group member an essential piece of the puzzle and makes it essential for the group to share resources or put their puzzle pieces together in order to be successful. And Positive Role Interdependence imparts a sense of ownership for each group member by assigning an interconnected role for each individual that is vital in completing the learning project. And Positive Identity Interdependence infuses unity and cohesion, inspiring camaraderie and loyalty by way of a shared identity expressed through a mutual logo, motto, name, etc. [1]

In CSCL

Computer-supported collaborative learning, or CSCL, offers strategies to promote positive interdependence by giving learning groups the technology to facilitate cooperative interaction through computer networks and achieve knowledge building through collaborative environments that support asynchronous and synchronous communication. Technology tools provide learner groups the means to share knowledge, construct shared understanding, and achieve deeper learning outcomes. Moreover, CSCL provides a framework to boost learner participation and has been shown to greatly improve learner engagement due to its social nature and adherence to constructivist learning principles. [13]

Specific strategy examples to create positive interdependence include leveraging CSCL technologies such as augmented reality role playing [14] and computer games [15] Augmented reality role playing utilizes an emotionally compelling virtual world that allows group members to assume identities and create a sense of interdependence. This augmented reality provides an environment for learners to rely on each other for completing real world tasks in various roles such as investigators, scientists, and fantasy personas (alternate reality game). [14] By designing learning projects that require role play and collaborative problem solving, CSCL builds positive identity and goal interdependence. Computer games can also be designed to promote positive interdependence by designing software tools that harness themes such as resource, role, and task interdependencies. A strategy for resource interdependence is to design learning games where no group member has all of the information to complete the task. Each member receives an essential piece or partial resource, and is forced to interact in order to be successful, as seen in games like Chase the Cheese and TeamQuest. For role interdependence, educational projects assign specific roles to each group member with specific responsibilities that are interchangeable and interconnected. And, to ensure interdependency, software tools are sequential, requiring each group member to complete part of the task in order to progress through the next phase. [15]

Benefits and limitations

When team members are positively interdependent they share common goals and thus support each other's efforts. This group dynamic has numerous benefits for the individual learner and the team.

Individual benefits

Team benefits

Limitations

Related Research Articles

Team group linked in a common purpose

A team is a group of individuals working together to achieve their goal.

Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group, or between social groups. The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making behaviour, tracking the spread of diseases in society, creating effective therapy techniques, and following the emergence and popularity of new ideas and technologies. Group dynamics are at the core of understanding racism, sexism, and other forms of social prejudice and discrimination. These applications of the field are studied in psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, epidemiology, education, social work, business, and communication studies.

Social group Two or more humans who interact with one another

In the social sciences, a social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Other theorists disagree however, and are wary of definitions which stress the importance of interdependence or objective similarity. Instead, researchers within the social identity tradition generally define it as "a group is defined in terms of those who identify themselves as members of the group". Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties. For example, a society can be viewed as a large social group.

Collaborative learning is a situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together. Unlike individual learning, people engaged in collaborative learning capitalize on one another's resources and skills. More specifically, collaborative learning is based on the model that knowledge can be created within a population where members actively interact by sharing experiences and take on asymmetric roles. Put differently, collaborative learning refers to methodologies and environments in which learners engage in a common task where each individual depends on and is accountable to each other. These include both face-to-face conversations and computer discussions. Methods for examining collaborative learning processes include conversation analysis and statistical discourse analysis.

Constructivism (philosophy of education) Philosophical viewpoint about the nature of knowledge; theory of knowledge

Constructivism in education has roots in epistemology. The learner has prior knowledge and experiences, which is often determined by their social and cultural environment. Learning is therefore done by students' “constructing” knowledge out of their experiences. While the Behaviorist school of learning may help understand what students are doing, educators also need to know what students are thinking, and how to enrich what students are thinking.

Teamwork collaborative effort of a team to achieve a common goal

Teamwork is the collaborative effort of a group to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way. This concept is seen within the greater framework of a team, which is a group of interdependent individuals who work together towards a common goal. Basic requirements for effective teamwork are an adequate team size. The context is important, and team sizes can vary depending upon the objective. A team must include at least 2 or more members, and most teams range in size from 2 to 100. Sports teams generally have fixed sizes based upon set rules, and work teams may change in size depending upon the phase and complexity of the objective. Teams need to be able to leverage resources to be productive, and clearly defined roles within the team in order for everyone to have a clear purpose. Teamwork is present in any context where a group of people are working together to achieve a common goal. These contexts include an industrial organization, athletics, a school, and the healthcare system. In each of these settings, the level of teamwork and interdependence can vary from low, to intermediate, to high, depending on the amount of communication, interaction, and collaboration present between team members.

Cooperative learning is an educational approach which aims to organize classroom activities into academic and social learning experiences. There is much more to cooperative learning than merely arranging students into groups, and it has been described as "structuring positive interdependence." Students must work in groups to complete tasks collectively toward academic goals. Unlike individual learning, which can be competitive in nature, students learning cooperatively can capitalize on one another's resources and skills. Furthermore, the teacher's role changes from giving information to facilitating students' learning. Everyone succeeds when the group succeeds. Ross and Smyth (1995) describe successful cooperative learning tasks as intellectually demanding, creative, open-ended, and involve higher order thinking tasks. Cooperative learning has also been linked to increased levels of student satisfaction.

Morton Deutsch social psychologist and researcher

Morton Deutsch was an American social psychologist and researcher in conflict resolution. Deutsch was one of the founding fathers of the field of conflict resolution. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Deutsch as the 63rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Group cognition is a social, largely linguistic phenomenon whereby a group of people produce a sequence of utterances that performs a cognitive act. That is, if a similar sequence was uttered or thought by an individual it would be considered an act of cognition or thinking. The group can be a small group, such as 3-5 people talking together or working together online. The group can also be a larger collective, such as a classroom of students or a global community contributing asynchronously to an extended discourse on a problem or topic or to a knowledge repository like Wikipedia. The theory of group cognition is a postcognitivism philosophy, which considers a larger unit of analysis than an individual mind as a producer of cognitive activities such as creative problem solving.

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is a pedagogical approach wherein learning takes place via social interaction using a computer or through the Internet. This kind of learning is characterized by the sharing and construction of knowledge among participants using technology as their primary means of communication or as a common resource. CSCL can be implemented in online and classroom learning environments and can take place synchronously or asynchronously.

In social psychology, superordinate goals are goals that are worth completing but require two or more social groups to cooperatively achieve. The idea was proposed by social psychologist Muzafer Sherif in his experiments on intergroup relations, run in the 1940s and 1950s, as a way of reducing conflict between competing groups. Sherif’s idea was to downplay the two separate group identities and encourage the two groups to think of themselves as one larger, superordinate group. This approach has been applied in many contexts to reduce intergroup conflict, including in classrooms and business organizations. However, it has also been critiqued by other social psychologists who have proposed competing theories of intergroup conflict, such as contact theory and social categorization theory.

Transactive memory is a psychological hypothesis first proposed by Daniel Wegner in 1985 as a response to earlier theories of "group mind" such as groupthink. A transactive memory system is a mechanism through which groups collectively encode, store, and retrieve knowledge. Transactive memory was initially studied in couples and families where individuals had close relationships but was later extended to teams, larger groups, and organizations to explain how they develop a "group mind", a memory system that is more complex and potentially more effective than that of any of its individual constituents. A transactive memory system includes memory stored in each individual, the interactions between memory within the individuals, as well as the processes that update this memory. Transactive memory, on the other hand, is merely the shared store of knowledge.

Assessment in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments is a subject of interest to educators and researchers. The assessment tools utilized in computer-supported collaborative learning settings are used to measure groups' knowledge learning processes, the quality of groups' products and individuals' collaborative learning skills.

Collective intelligence group intelligence that emerges from collective efforts

Collective intelligence (CI) is shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration, collective efforts, and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making. The term appears in sociobiology, political science and in context of mass peer review and crowdsourcing applications. It may involve consensus, social capital and formalisms such as voting systems, social media and other means of quantifying mass activity. Collective IQ is a measure of collective intelligence, although it is often used interchangeably with the term collective intelligence. Collective intelligence has also been attributed to bacteria and animals.

Interdependence theory is a social exchange theory that states that interpersonal relationships are defined through interpersonal interdependence, which is "the process by which interacting people influence one another's experiences"(Van Lange & Balliet, 2014, p. 65). The most basic principle of the theory is encapsulated in the equation I = ƒ[A, B, S], which says that all interpersonal interactions (I) are a function (ƒ) of the given situation (S), plus the actions and characteristics of the individuals in the interaction. The theory's four basic assumptions are 1) The Principle of Structure, 2) The Principle of Transformation, 3) The Principle of Interaction, and 4) The Principle of Adaption.

The gradual release of responsibility model or GRR model is a particular style of teaching which is a structured method of pedagogy framed around a process devolving responsibility within the learning process from the teacher to the eventual independence of the learner. This instructional model requires that the teacher, by design, transitions from assuming "all the responsibility for performing a task...to a situation in which the students assume all of the responsibility". The ideal result is a confident learner who accepts responsibility for their own learning and directs this learning through the cognitive processes involved, moving through the academic spectrum, to independent choice. As Buehl (2005) stated, the GRR model "emphasizes instruction that mentors students into becoming capable thinkers and learners when handling the tasks with which they have not yet developed expertise".

David W. Johnson (scholar) American psychologist

David W. Johnson is a social psychologist whose research has focused on four overlapping areas: cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts; constructive controversy; conflict resolution and peer mediation and experiential learning to teach interpersonal and small group skills. Johnson has developed and applied psychological knowledge in effort to improve practices within educational systems. Johnson's books have been translated into 20 different languages and his work has been applied in many countries.

There is a great deal of research on the factors that lead to the formation of prejudiced attitudes and beliefs. There is also a lot of research on the consequences of holding prejudiced beliefs and being the target of such beliefs. It is true that advances have been made in understanding the nature of prejudice. A consensus on how to end prejudice has yet to be established, but there are a number of scientifically examined strategies that have been developed in attempt to solve this social issue.

Human-Robot Collaboration is the study of collaborative processes in human and robot agents work together to achieve shared goals. Many new applications for robots require them to work alongside people as capable members of human-robot teams. These include robots for homes, hospitals, and offices, space exploration and manufacturing. Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) is an interdisciplinary research area comprising classical robotics, human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, design, cognitive sciences and psychology.

Coaching psychology is a field of applied psychology that applies psychological theories and concepts to the practice of coaching. Its aim is to increase performance, achievement and well-being in individuals, teams and organisations by utilising evidence-based methods grounded in scientific research. Coaching psychology is influenced by theories in various psychological fields, such as humanistic psychology, positive psychology, learning theory and social psychology.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Johnson, R.T.; Johnson, D.W.; Holubec, E.J. (1998). Cooperation in the Classroom. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. pp. 4, 7–8.
  2. ↑ Choi, J.; Johnson, D.W.; Johnson, R.T. (2011). "Relationships Among Cooperative Learning Experiences, Social Interdependence, Children's Aggression, Victimization, and Prosocial Behaviors". Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 41 (4): 976–1003. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00744.x.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Johnson, R.T.; Johnson, D.W. (2009). "An Educational Psychology Success Story: Social Interdependence Theory and Cooperative Learning". Educational Researcher. 38 (5): 366–367. doi:10.3102/0013189x09339057.
  4. ↑ Johnson, R.T.; Johnson, D.W. (2000). "Teaching students to be peacemakers: Results of twelve years of research" (PDF). In Salomon, Gavriel; Cairns, Ed (eds.). Handbook on Peace Education. Psychology Press. pp. 226–227. ISBN   978-0-8058-6252-2.
  5. ↑ Deutsch, M. (1949). "A theory of cooperation and competition". Human Relations. 2 (2): 129–152. doi:10.1177/001872674900200204.
  6. ↑ Deutsch, Morton (1954). "Field Theory in Social Psychology" (PDF). In Lindzey, G.; Aronson, E. (eds.). The Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). pp. 412–487. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  7. 1 2 Johnson, R.T.; Johnson, D.W. (1999). "Making Cooperative Learning Work". Theory into Practice. 38 (2: Building Community through Cooperative Learning): 67–73. doi:10.1080/00405849909543834. JSTOR   1477225.
  8. ↑ Deutsch, M. (1962). "Cooperation and trust: Some theoretical notes". In Jones, M.R. (ed.). Nebraska symposium on motivation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 275–319.
  9. 1 2 Piki, Adriana (2008). "The Social and Cognitive Dimensions of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning". Πληροφορικη [Pliroforiki]. 18 (2): 18–20.
  10. ↑ Hwong, N.; Caswell, A.; Johnson, D.W.; Johnson, R. (199). "Effects of cooperative and individualistic learning on prospective elementary teachers' music achievement and attitudes". Journal of Social Psychology. 133 (1): 53–64. doi:10.1080/00224545.1993.9712118. PMID   8464219.
  11. ↑ Johnson, D. W.; Johnson, R. (2005). "New developments in social interdependence theory". Psychology Monographs. 131 (4): 285–358. doi:10.3200/mono.131.4.285-358. PMID   17191373.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Johnson, D.W.; Johnson, R. T.; Smith, K. (2007). "The State of Cooperative Learning in Postsecondary and Professional Settings". Educational Psychology Review . 19 (1): 15–29. doi:10.1007/s10648-006-9038-8.
  13. ↑ Resta, P.; Laferrière, T. (2007). "Technology in support of collaborative learning" (PDF). Educational Psychology Review. 19: 65–83. doi:10.1007/s10648-007-9042-7.
  14. 1 2 Klopfer, E.; Perry, J.; Squire, K.; Jan, M.-F. (May 2005). Collaborative Learning Through Augmented Reality Role Playing. Proceedings of CSCL '05. Taipei, Taiwan. pp. 311–315.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Collazos, C.; Guerrero, L.; Pino, J.; Ochoa, S. (2003). Favela, J.; Decouchant, D. (eds.). Collaborative Scenarios to promote positive interdependence among group member (PDF). CRIWG 2003, LNCS 2806. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 356–370.
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