While I think I know where you're coming from (((FUZZY))) I don't think it's always true. For example, last weekend I volunteered... it was a situation where none of us knew each other yet we all had a common goal... and worked together sucessfully to achieve that goal. There were NO confrontations.

I think some of the reasons it worked is:

We are all adults assured of our abilities.
None of us needed to have overt attention.
None of us needed to "prove" anything to the others.
We all were there for a common goal.
We all accepted others' deficits and filled in where needed, automatically...
and though the above happened, no one's feelings were hurt because of the prior items I listed.

Here, on psychcentral, while we all have a generally common goals:, to support others and to gain support, we don't all have adult attributes nor assurances of our capabilities... and at times we all need more attention than another...