35.5 Research on Social Interdependence

The research on social interdependence is notable for the sheer amount of work done, the long history of the work, the wide variety of dependent variables examined, the generalizability and external validity of the work, and the sophistication of the research reviews.

A great deal of research oti social interdependence has been conducted over 10 decades. Between 1898 and 1989, over 550 experimental and 100 correlational studies were conducted on social interdependence (see Johnson & Johnson, 1989, for a complete listing of these studies). Hundreds of other studies have used social interdependence as the dependent rather than the independent variable. In our own research program at the Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota over the past 25 years, we have conducted over 85 studies to refine our understanding of how cooperation works. In terms of sheer quantity of research, social interdependence theory is one of the most examined aspects of human nature.

A wide variety of dependent variables has been examined in the research on social interdependence. Social interdependence is a generic human phenomenon that affects many different outcomes simultaneously. Over the past 95 years, researchers have focused on such diverse dependent variables as individual achievement and retention, group and organizational productivity, higher-level reasoning, moral reasoning, achievement motivation, intrinsic motivation, transfer of training and learning, job satisfaction, interpersonal attraction, social support, interpersonal affection and love, attitudes toward diversity, prejudice, self-esteem, personal causation and locus of control, attributions concerning success and failure, psychological health, social competencies, and many others. These numerous outcomes may be subsumed within three broad categories (Johnson & Johnson, 1989): effort to achieve, positive interpersonal relationships, and psychological health.

The research on social interdependence has an external validity and a generalizability rarely found in the social sciences. 'Me more variations in places, people, and procedures the research can withstand and still yield the same findings, the more externally valid the conclusions. The research has been conducted in 10 different historical decades. Research subjects have varied as to age, sex, economic class, nationality, and cultural background. A wide variety of research tasks, ways of structuring the types of social interdependence, and measures of the dependent variables have been used. The research has been conducted by many different researchers with markedly different theoretical and practical orientations working in different settings and even in different countries. The diversity of subjects, settings, age levels, and operationalizations of social interdependence and the dependent variables give this work wide generalizability and considerable external validity.

If research is to have impact on theory and practice, it must be summarized and communicated in a complete, objective, impartial, and unbiased way. In an age of information explosion, there is considerable danger that theories will be formulated on small and nonrepresentative samples of available knowledge, thereby resulting in fallacious conclusions that in turn lead to mistaken practices. A quantitative reviewing procedure allows for more definitive and robust conclusions. To establish the current state of knowledge about social interdependence, therefore, the meta-analysis process was applied. Meta-analysis is a method of statistically combining the results of a set of independent studies that test the same hypothesis and using inferential statistics to draw conclusions about the overall result of the studies. The essential purpose of meta-analysis is to summarize a set of related research studies so that the size of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable is known.

The basic premise of social interdependence theory is that the way interdependence among goals is structured determines how individuals interact, which in turn largely determines outcomes. Research, therefore, has focused on both the interaction patterns found among interdependent individuals and the outcomes resulting from their efforts.

Two heads are better than one.-Heywood

Positive interdependence (see Fig. 35-1) creates promotive interactio,4 which occurs as individuals encourage and facilitate each other's efforts to reach the group's goals (such as maximizing each member's learning). Group members promote each other's success (Johnson & Johnson, 1989) by:

1. Giving and receiving help and assistance. In cooperative groups, members both give and receive work-related and personal help and support. Hooper (1991) found a positive and significant correlation between achievement and helping behaviors.
2. Exchanging resources and information. Group members seek information and other resources from each other, comprehend information accurately and without bias, and make optimal use of the information provided (e.g., Cosen & English, 1987; Hawkins et al., 1982; Webb, Ender & Lewis, 1986). There are a number of beneficial results from (a) orally explaining, elaborating, and summarizing information and (b) teaching one's knowledge to others. Yueh and Alessi (1988) found that a combination of group and individual rewards resulted in increased peer teaching. Explaining and teaching increase the degree to which group members cognitively process and organize information, engage in higher-level reasoning, attain insights, and become personally committed to achieving. Listening critically to the explanations of groupinates, provides the opportunity to utilize other's resources.
3. Giving and receiving feedback (see 32.2) on taskwork and teamwork behaviors. In cooperative groups, members monitor each other's efforts, give immediate feedback on performance, and, when needed, give each other help and assistance. Carrier and Sales (1987j found that students working in pairs chose elaborative feedback more frequently than did those working alone.
4. Challenging each other's reasoning. Intellectual controversy promotes curiosity, motivation to learn, reconceptualization of what one knows, higher-quality decision making, greater insight into the problem being considered, higher-level reasoning, and cognitive development (Johnson & Johnson, 1992). Logo environments (see 12.3.2.1, 24.5.1.3) may especially engender conflicts among ideas and subsequent negotiation and resolution of that conflict (Clements & Nastasi, 1985, 1988; Lehrer & Smith, 1986).
5. Advocating increased efforts to achieve. Encouraging others to achieve increases one's own commitment to do so.
6. Mutually influencing each other's reasoning and behavior. Group members actively seek to influence and be influenced by each other. If a member has a better way to complete the task, groupmates usually adopt it quickly.
7. Engaging in the interpersonal and small-group skills needed for effective teamwork.
8. Processing how effectively group members are working together and how the group's effectiveness can be continuously improved.

Negative interdependence typically results in oppositional interaction, which occurs as individuals discourage and obstruct each other's efforts to achieve. Individuals focus both on increasing their own success and on preventing anyone else from being more successful than they are. No interaction exists when individuals work independently without any interaction or interchange with each other. Individuals focus only on increasing their own success and ignore as irrelevant the efforts of others.

Each of these interaction patterns affects outcomes differently. The outcomes of social interdependence may be organized into three major areas.

In Look Homeward Angel, Thomas Wolfe records how in grammar school Eugene learned to write from a classmate, learning from a peer what "all instruction failed" to teach him. Is Eugene an isolated case? No. Between 1898 and 1989, researchers conducted over 375 experimental studies on social interdependence and achievement (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). A meta-analysis of all studies indicates that cooperative leaming results in significantly higher achievement and retention than does competitive and individualistic learning (see Table 35-1). The more conceptual and complex the task, the more problem solving required; and the more creative the answers need to be, the greater the superiority of cooperative over competitive and individualistic learning. When we examined only the methodological high-quality studies, the superiority of cooperative over competitive or individualistic efforts was still pronounced.

Some cooperative procedures contained a mixture of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts, while others contained pure cooperation. 'Me original jigsaw procedure (Aronson, 1978), for example, is a combination of resource interdependence and an individualistic reward structure. Teams-games-tournaments (see 17.3; DeVries & Edwards, 1974) and student-teams-achievement-divisions (Slavin, 1986) are mixtures of cooperation and intergroup competition. Team-assisted instruction (Slavin, Leavey & Madden, 1982) is a mixture of individualistic and cooperative learning. When the results of "pure' and "mixed7 operationalizafions of cooperative leaming were compared, the pure operationalizations produced higher achievement.

Figure 35-1. Outcomes of cooperation. Reprinted by permission from Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. & Holubee, E. (1993). Cirries ofLeaming, 4thed. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Besides higher achievement and greater retention, cooperation, compared with competitive or individualistic efforts, tends to result (Johnson & Johnson, 1989) in more:

1. Willingness to take on difficult tasks and persist, despite difficulties, in working toward goal accomplishment.
2. Long-term retention of what is learned.
3. Higher-level reasoning (critical thinking) and metacognitive thought. Cooperative efforts promote a greater use of higher-level reasoning strategies and critical thinking than do competitive or individualistic efforts (effect sizes = 0.93 and 0.97, respectively). Even on writing assignments, students working cooperatively show more higher-level thought.
4. Creative thinking (process gain). In cooperative groups, members more frequently generate new ideas, strategies, and solutions that they would think of on their own.
5. Transfer of learning from one situation to another (group to individual transfer). What individuals learn in a group today, theypre able to do alone tomorrow.
6. Positive attitudes toward the tasks being completed (job satisfaction). Cooperative efforts result in more positive attitudes toward the tasks being completed and greater continuing motivation to complete diem. The positive attitudes extend to the. work experience and the organization as a whole.
7. Time on task. Cooperators spend more time on task than do competitors (effect size = 0.76) or students working individualistically (effect size = 1. 17).

Kurt Lewin often stated, "I always found myself unable to think as a single person. " Most efforts to achieve are a personal but social process that require individuals to cooperate and to construct shared understandings and knowledge. Both competitive and individualistic structures, by isolating individuals from each other, tend to depress achievement.

Heartpower is the strength of your corporation.- Vince Lombardi, famous coach of the Green Bay Packers

Since 1940, over 180 studies have compared the impact of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts on interpersonal attraction (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Cooperative efforts, compared with competitive and individualistic experiences, promoted considerably more liking among individuals (see Table 35-1). The effects sizes were higher for (a) high-quality studies and (b) the studies using pure operationalizations of cooperative learning than for studies using mixed operationalizations. These positive feelings were found to extend to superiors in the organizational structure. Thus, individuals tend to care more about each other and to be more committed to each other ~ success and well-being when they work together cooperatively than when they compete to see who is best or work independently from each othe.r

A major extension of social interdependence theory is social judgment theory that focuses on relationships among diverse individuals (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Cooperators tend to like each other, not only when they are homogeneous but also when they differ in intellectual ability, handicapping conditions, ethnic membership, social class, culture, and gender (see 6.4). Individuals working cooperatively tend to value heterogeneity and diversity more than do individuals working competitively or individualistically. The positive impact of heterogeneity results from a process of acceptance that includes frequent and accurate communication, accurate perspective taking, mutual inducibility (openness to influence), multidimensional views of each other, feelings of psychological acceptance and self-esteem, psychological success, and expectations of rewarding and productive future interaction.

Closely related to the research on the impact of social interdependence on interpersonal relationships is the study of group cohesion (Johnson & F. Johnson, 1994). Generally, the more positive the relationships among group members, the lower the absenteeism, the fewer the members who drop out of the group, and the more likely students will 'commit effort to achieve educational goals, feel personal responsibility for learning, take on difficult tasks, be motivated to learn, persist in working toward. goal achievement, have high morale, be willing to endure pain and frustration on behalf of leaming, listen to and be influenced by class-mates and teachers, commit to each other's learning and success, and achieve and produce.

In addition, positive peer relationships influence the social and cognitive development of students and such attitudes and behaviors as educational aspirations and staying in school (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Relationships with peers influence what attitudes and values students adopt, whether students become prosocial or antisocial oriented, whether students learn to see situations from a variety of perspectives, the development of autonomy, aspirations for postsecondary education, and whether students learn how to cope with adversity and stress. Mevarech et al. (1987), for example, found that altruism increased among students learning in cooperative pairs.

Besides liking each other, cooperators give and receive considerable social support, both personally and academically (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Since the 1940s, over 106 studies comparing the relative impact of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts on social support have been conducted. Social support may be aimed at enhancing another person's success (task-related social support) or at providing support on a more personal level (personal social support). Cooperative experience promoted greater task-oriented and personal social support than did competitive (effect size = 0.62) or individualistic (effect size = 0.70) experiences. Social support tends to promote achievement and productivity, physical health, psychological health, and successful coping with stress and adversity.

Interpersonal relationships are at the heart of communities of practice. Learning communities are based as much on relationships as they are on intellectual discourse. The more positive the relationships among students and the more committed students are to each other's success, the harder students will work and the more productive they will be.

Ashley Montagu was fond of saying, "Withfew exceptions, the solitary animal is, in any species, an abnormal creature. " Karen Homey said, "The neurotic individual is someone who is inappropriately competitive and, therefore, unable to cooperate with others. " Montagu and Homey recognized that the essence of psychological health is the ability to develop and maintain cooperative relationships. Psychological health may be defined, therefore, as the ability to develop, maintain, and appropriately modify interdependent relationships with others to succeed in achieving goals. To manage social interdependence, individuals must correctly perceive whether interdependence exists and whether it is positive or negative, be motivated accordingly, and act in ways consistent with normative expectations for appropriate behavior within the situation. The major variables related to psychological health studied by researchers interested in social interdependence are psychological adjustment, self-esteem, perspective-taking ability, social skills, and a variety of related attitudes and values.

A number of studies have been conducted on the relationship between social interdependence and psychological health (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Working cooperatively with peers and valuing cooperation results in greater psychological health than does competing with peers or working independently. Cooperativeness is positively related to a number of indices of psychological health, such as emotional maturity, well-adjusted social relations, strong personal identity, ability to cope with adversity, social competencies, and basic trust in and optimism about people. Personal ego strength, self-confidence, independence, and autonomy are all promoted when cooperative efforts are involved. Individualistic attitudes tend to be related to a number of indices of psychological pathology such as emotional immaturity, social maladjustment, delinquency, self-alienation, and self-rejection. Competitiveness is related to a mixture of healthy and unhealthy characteristics. Cooperative experiences are not a luxury; they are an absolute necessity for healthy psychological development.

The relationship between social interdependence and self-esteem has been examined by interested researchers. A process of self-acceptance is posited to be based on (a) internalizing perceptions that one is known, accepted, and liked as one is, (b) internalizing mutual success, and (c) evaluating oneself favorably in comparison with peers. A process of self-rejection may occur from (a) not wanting to be known, (b) low performance, (c) overgeneralization of self-evaluations, and (d) the disapproval of others. Since the 1950s there have been over 80 studies comparing the relative impact of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic experiences on self-esteem (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Cooperative experiences promoted higher self-esteem than did competitive (effect size = 0.58) or individualistic (effect size = 0.44) experiences. Our research demonstrated that cooperative experiences tend to be related to these beliefs: One is intrinsically worthwhile; others see one in positive ways; one's attributes compare favorably with those of one's peers; and one is a capable, competent, and successful person. In cooperative efforts, students (a) realize that they are accurately known, accepted, and liked by one's peers, (b) know that they have contributed to their own, others, and group success, and (c) perceive themselves and others in a differentiated and realistic way that allows for multidimensional comparisons based on complementarity of their own and others' abilities. Competitive experiences tend to be related to conditional self-esteem based on whether one wins or loses. Individualistic experiences tend to be related to basic self-rejection.

A number of studies have related cooperative, competitive, and individualistic experiences to perspective-taking ability (the ability to understand how a situation appears to other people) (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Cooperative experiences tend to increase perspective-taking ability, while competitive and individualistic experiences tend to promote egocentrism (being unaware of other perspectives other than your own) (effect sizes of 0.61 and 0-44, respectively). Individuals, furthermore, who are part of a cooperative effort learn more social skills and become more socially competent than do persons competing or working individualistically. Finally, it is through cooperative efforts that many of the attitudes and values essential to psychological health (such as self-efficacy) are learned and adopted.

3 5.5. 5 Everything Affects Everything Else

Deutsch's (1985) crude law of social relations states that the characteristic processes and effects elicited by a given type of social interdependence also tend to elicit that type of social interdependence. Thus, positive interdependence elicits promotive interaction, and promotive interaction tends to elicit positive interdependence. Deutsch's law may also be applied to the three types of outcomes resulting from cooperative experiences.

Each of the outcomes of cooperative efforts (effort to achieve, quality of relationships, and psychological health) influences the others, and, therefore, they are likely to be found together (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). First, caring and committed friendships come from a sense of mutual accomplishment, mutual pride in joint work, and the bonding that results from joint efforts. The more individuals care about each other, on the other hand, the harder they will work to achieve mutual goals. Second, joint efforts to achieve mutual goals promote higher self-esteem, self-efficacy, personal control, and confidence in one's competencies. The healthier psychologically individuals are, on the other hand, the better able to they are to work with others to achieve mutual goals. Third, psychological health is built on the internalization of the caring and respect received from loved ones. Friendships are developmental advantages that promote self-esteem, self-efficacy, and general psychological adjustment. The healthier people are psychologically (i.e., free of psychological pathology such as depression, paranoia, anxiety, fear of failure, repressed anger, hopelessness, and meaninglessness), on the other hand, the more caring and committed their relationships. Since each outcome can induce the others, you are likely to find them together. They are a package, with each outcome a door into all three. Together they induce positive interdependence and promotive interaction.