Summary Of An Educational Psychology Success Story: Social Interdependence Theory

In our society we value being an individual. However, the question is whether individualistic or competitive efforts are the best way in which we work or learn. David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson presents research on why competitive and individualistic efforts are not as effective as cooperative efforts in their article “An Educational Psychology Success Story: Social Interdependence Theory and Cooperative Learning”. In the article, Johnson and Johnson state that their objective is to explain, “How social and educational psychology has contributed to educational practice” (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). The way in which they state they will accomplish this is by first “summarizing social interdependence” (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). Then they
Positive social interdependence is that what a person does helps in the mutual goals of a group (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). Negative social interdependence, then, does not help, or it obstructs, the goals of a group. The focus in their article is on positive social interdependence. A further breakdown of positive and negative social interdependence was identified in “division of labor, mutual identity, environmental spaces, and simulations involving fantasy situations” (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). Inside these structures there are further breakdowns of categories, “outcome, means, and boundary” (Johnson & Johnson,
The situation is fantasy. The outcome (or goal and reward) is getting to Mars. The means are the children working together to solve issues or even “mapping a course”. The boundary is the children who are working together, which excludes those who are not participating. The boundary could also describe the play area. It is also of note that Johnson and Johnson claims that positive interdependence creates accountability that add the concept of “ought” to a group member’s motivation, which creates an environment of cooperation (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). Johnson and Johnson states, in their conclusion, that many have studied, researched, and “contributed to the overall theoretical framework” of social interdependence (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). The studies that they mention have occurred in many different cultures, among various age groups, and differing durations in length of study over the last 11 years (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). What has been found is that social interdependence stretches across three categories, “effort to achieve, positive interpersonal relationships, and psychological health” (Johnson & Johnson,