Group Differentiation: Temporal Effects of Reinforcement

One of the most pervasive phenomena characteristic of group interaction is structural differentiation. Groups tend to distribute their activity and their internally shared reinforcements in ways that allow them to resolve problems with which they are confronted by their environment: thus differentiation implies variable allocation of rewards across group members. These distributions often tend to be such that certain individuals or subgroups receive a substantially greater proportion of rewards or reinforcements than that merited by their inputs to the system; correspondingly other individuals receive proportionately less reward than what might be expected on the basis of their input. Such differentiated systems may occur as a result of the environmental problems facing groups and their attempts to resolve these problems. Structural differentiation may involve several processes in group interaction. A group may, for instance, reward some members more highly in correspondence with the perceived ability of these members to solve the problems with which the group is faced. Similarly, a group may reinforce certain individuals at higher rates because they are temporarily successful, only to shift reinforcement rates when environmental circumstances fail to support their judgment. Such dif-