[4] The ease whereby people pick out those who play complementary games,[5] and the psychological splitting of good and bad help fuel such role differentiation.
[6] Behind role suction, such forces as projective identification and countertransference have been singled out as operating at an unconscious level in the group.
[10] A wider variety of roles can however be found in organizational life, the person-in-role acting as a container for the (unconscious) group forces.
Earl Hopper has used the term personification to challenge Redl's concept, suggesting instead that group roles reflect the underlying personality of the individual involved.
[17] However, Kibel objects that in many cases the roles imposed are in fact ego-dystonic;[18] with others pointing to how personal tendencies combine with group expectations with varying degrees of fit.