Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART ONE INTRODUCTION AND THEORY
- PART TWO THE SITUATIONS
- Single-Component Patterns
- Two- and Three-Component Patterns
- Entry #5 The Prisoner's Dilemma: Me versus We
- Entry #6 Threat: Trading Loyalty for Justice
- Entry #7 Chicken: Death before Dishonor
- Entry #8 Hero: Let's Do It Your Way
- Entry #9 Conjunctive Problems: Together We Can Do It
- Entry #10 Disjunctive Problems: Either of Us Can Do It
- Entry #11 Asymmetric Dependence: You're the Boss
- Time-Extended Patterns
- Incomplete Information Situations
- N-Person Situations
- Movement from One Situation to Another
- PART THREE EPILOGUE
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Entry #10 - Disjunctive Problems: Either of Us Can Do It
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART ONE INTRODUCTION AND THEORY
- PART TWO THE SITUATIONS
- Single-Component Patterns
- Two- and Three-Component Patterns
- Entry #5 The Prisoner's Dilemma: Me versus We
- Entry #6 Threat: Trading Loyalty for Justice
- Entry #7 Chicken: Death before Dishonor
- Entry #8 Hero: Let's Do It Your Way
- Entry #9 Conjunctive Problems: Together We Can Do It
- Entry #10 Disjunctive Problems: Either of Us Can Do It
- Entry #11 Asymmetric Dependence: You're the Boss
- Time-Extended Patterns
- Incomplete Information Situations
- N-Person Situations
- Movement from One Situation to Another
- PART THREE EPILOGUE
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Examples
This situation is one in which the actions of a single person provide a benefit for all (including himself or herself). Such situations arise routinely both in dyadic and group settings. For example, in marriages or business partnerships, joint obligations (e.g., responding to invitations, paying bills) can be fulfilled equally well by either partner. Likewise, either marriage partner can simultaneously benefit self and the spouse by making a particular “right” choice – for example, both benefit when either cleans the house, quiets the children, or prepares a meal. As Steiner (1972) has observed, performance groups face this situation in group tasks where a single member can effectively do the work of the entire group. For example, a group of students in a chemistry lab may have a single lab assignment requiring a single written report, for which all the students will receive the same grade. In such a case, any single lab-group member could (in principle) complete, write up, and turn in the assignment. Many bystander intervention settings (cf. Latané & Darley, 1970) also have this structure. Often only one bystander needs to act (e.g., give or seek help) in order to “solve” the problem confronting the group of bystanders (i.e., deal with the emergency).
Conceptual Description
The essential feature of the situation of disjunctive interdependence is that an act or choice of any single group member is sufficient to determine a desired outcome for all.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- An Atlas of Interpersonal Situations , pp. 239 - 248Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003