Positive interdependence is an element of cooperative and collaborative learning in which members of a group who share common goals perceive that working together is individually and collectively beneficial, and that success depends on the participation of every member. It contrasts with negative interdependence, where individuals can achieve their goal only through a competitor's failure, and with no interdependence, where no correlation exists between individuals' goals; positive interdependence occurs when individuals perceive they can attain their goals only if the others with whom they are cooperatively linked also attain theirs, leading group members to encourage and facilitate each other's efforts toward the group's goals. It can also be understood through its effects on group members' psychological processes, promoting substitutability, the degree to which one member's actions can substitute for another's, positive cathexis, the investment of positive psychological energy in things outside oneself, and inducibility, openness to influencing and being influenced by others, whereas negative interdependence produces the opposite effects.
Facts
Core ClaimPositive interdependence exists when members of a group perceive that they can reach their own goals only if the other members with whom they are cooperatively linked also reach theirs, so each member's success helps rather than blocks every other member's success. 1 FAQs
Why is positive interdependence called the most important element of cooperative learning?
Because without it there is no cooperation: group members must see that no one succeeds unless everyone does.
The Cooperative Learning Institute calls it the first and most important of five essential elements that need to be carefully structured into cooperative learning. It exists when group members perceive that they are linked with each other in a way that one cannot succeed unless everyone succeeds. The Institute adds that if there is no positive interdependence, there is no cooperation. The Institute says teachers must give a clear task and a group goal so students believe they sink or swim together.
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationPositive interdependence, lead section (core claim)
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.
Morton Deutsch, early life and education section (origin)
The theory was first presented in a paper published in 1949.
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