PSY2002 S2 W9 Group Cognition Flashcards
(50 cards)
Do we make better decisions as a group or as an individual?
Madness of crows (MacKay, 1941)
Collective intelligence of the mass (Galton, 1907)
WHat is an example of madness of crowds?
Stock market activity and economic bubbles → investors buy up cheap shares and this snowball increasing the price of the shares until they no longer reflect the value of the company→ the bubble bursts and the shares are worth very little
What is an exaùme of collective intelligence of the masses?
In 1907, Galton invited people to estimate the weight of an ox.
Although the guesses were made separately, the average of these estimates was remarkably near to the actual weight of the ox.
“In these democratic days, any investigation into the trustworthiness and peculiarities of popular judgments is of interest
What are real world examples of the effect of groups?
- In 2007, a wave of deposit withdrawals led to the collapse of a bank in the UK.
- By 2025, US tariffs caused a drop in global stock market values, and the complete repercussions remain to be seen.
What is the standard approach ofor assessing group cognition involves?
3-6 PTT
Brief tasks
Shared objectives
What should consider instead of group smart vs groups are dumb?
What factors affect “when” groups are smart
Individuals bring information but also biases to groups
How the group functions can average out (uncorrelated biases) or overcome them (through argument)
What are predictors of group intelligences?
average social sensitivity, amount fo communication, distribution of communication
Conclusion: strongly suggests that the coordination problem of group work often outweighs the intellectual challenges.
What is a common example of a decision making tasking?
- Robin is gazing at Charlie, while Charlie is looking at Jules. Robin is married, but Jules is single. Is a married individual observing someone who is not married?
o A = Yes, B = No, C = We cannot determine
Results:
A individual 5%
A Groups 24%
B Individual 2%
B Groups 3%
C cant till groups 93%
C can’t tell individuals 69
Robin is gazing at Charlie, while Charlie is looking at Jules. Robin is married, but Jules is single. Is a married individual observing someone who is not married?
What is confirmation Bias?
About active search for information, not just whether you believe information when you encounter it.
A preference for seeking information that can only confirm your existing beliefs, rather than contradict it.
What is Wason’s selection task?
The selection task is not merely difficult - most people understand the answer when it is explained to them. It is necessary to flip over E, as there may be an odd number on the reverse side. Additionally, you should check 1, since it might conceal a vowel on the opposite side. Flipping 6, however, will not provide any useful information.
What is the wason’s selection task in groups?
A few minutes of discussion can change the wrong answer into a correct response.
Approximately 80% of groups arrive at the correct answer ( a complete flip from individuals where approximately 70-80% arrive at the wrong answer).
A few minutes of discussion can change the wrong answer into a correct response.
Allows researchers to look at the process of reasoning in groups to come to the correct answer.
What are things which don’t help accuracy on wason’s task?
Motivation/Reward, Changing the wording, Unversity Education
What are somethings which does help wason’s task accuracy?
Mzking the task less abstract
Working within a group (perhaps)
What can group cognition improve?
individual reasoning
What does evidence suggest on are gooups better than individuals?
Imporant of process loss and process gains
What are process loss?
Instances of ‘process loss,’ where group decisions tend to be inferior to those made by individuals (the folly/madness of crowds).
What are process gains?
Instances of ‘process gain,’ where group decisions surpass those of individuals (the wisdom of crowds).
What is the group accuracy compared to individuals within the groups?
Typically, groups achieve accuracy comparable to that of the 2nd-best member of group
Group cognition often sidesteps both the individual’s worst and best responses.
What are four key factors that help answer the question do groups perform better than individuals?
Types of task
Comparison standards
Methods of coordination
Individual varaitions
How does task types effect if performance is better in group or individual?
Intellective tasks (which yield a clear answer) vs Judgement tasks (which involve estimations or opinions)
Clearly defined vs poorly defined (which relates closely to intellective versus judgement tasks)
What factors influence the task? does it require insight? is background knowledge necessary? does it elicit strong intuitions or emotions (biases?)
Task type individual vs group
Evidence suggests that:
Given time and discussion groups perform as well as best individual on Intellective tasks (Laughlin et al., 1991)
Evidence that best members outperform groups on judgement tasks (Sniezek, 1989)
When the task does not have a clear answer then groups tend to perform at the level of the average members (Gigone & Hastie, 1997).
How does standards of comparison effect performance in groups/individuals
Depending on your own performance you will gain/lose from working in a group
What is group coordination methods?
How the group functions affect the method
Delphi method
Dictator Method
Consensus Method
Dialectic methods
What is Dictator Method?
COordiantion Methods
Discussion group choses the best individual to anwser
What is dialectic methods?
COordiantion Methods
Discussion with revision
Given collective mean, discuss and revise
