ABSTRACT
As we have discussed throughout this book, people join groups to obtain the benefits they provide. But because groups and group members are interdependent, gaining rewards frequently involves behavior that influences the rewards that can be gained by other people, both within and outside of the group. The goal of gaining rewards frequently leads to individual cooperation-
the reciprocal exchange of benefits with others-for instance, by working together to complete a project that no one person could accomplish alone. In other cases, however, cooperation breaks down and the group members turn to competition-as when an employee exaggerates his or her contributions to the project with the goal of getting a promotion over his or her coworkers, or when group members blame each other for the group's difficulties.
