Well, this is an interesting question. In low rise buildings the majority of lateral drift comes from shear deformations. In taller buildings that's not true. I understand that there are exceptions to the above statements based on materials, aspect ratios of lateral elements, etc, but I think it's a fair statement as a general behavior.
My point is that in low-rise construction your statement is more or less correct. In taller buildings, where the lateral
stiffness has a larger flexural component, that may not necessarily be true.
What the practical consequence or difference is I can't say I know
the difference is in the behavior of the lateral elements. I don't k ow anyone who distributes lateral loads by hand so small differences are probably a moot point, but I would offer this - when the aspect ratio of a shearwall is below some threshold the relative stiffnesses are based only on area (because of the predominant shear deformations). As the aspect ratio grows, so does the percentage of flexural displacement. Now the relative stiffnesses are based solely on area.
This has nothing to do with distribution of lateral
forces other than to change the way we derive relative stiffnesses.
