Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany.
J R Soc Interface. 2018 May;15(142). doi: 10.1098/rsif.2018.0155.
Collective intelligence refers to the ability of groups to outperform individuals in solving cognitive tasks. Although numerous studies have demonstrated this effect, the mechanisms underlying collective intelligence remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate diversity in cue beliefs as a mechanism potentially promoting collective intelligence. In our experimental study, human groups observed a sequence of cartoon characters, and classified each character as a cooperator or defector based on informative and uninformative cues. Participants first made an individual decision. They then received social information consisting of their group members' decisions before making a second decision. Additionally, individuals reported their beliefs about the cues. Our results showed that individuals made better decisions after observing the decisions of others. Interestingly, individuals developed different cue beliefs, including many wrong ones, despite receiving identical information. Diversity in cue beliefs, however, did not predict collective improvement. Using simulations, we found that diverse collectives did provide better social information, but that individuals failed to reap those benefits because they relied too much on personal information. Our results highlight the potential of belief diversity for promoting collective intelligence, but suggest that this potential often remains unexploited because of over-reliance on personal information.
集体智慧是指群体在解决认知任务方面优于个体的能力。尽管有许多研究已经证明了这一效应，但集体智慧的潜在机制仍未被很好地理解。在这里，我们研究了线索信念的多样性作为一种潜在的促进集体智慧的机制。在我们的实验研究中，人类群体观察了一系列卡通人物，并根据信息性和非信息性线索将每个角色分类为合作者或背叛者。参与者首先做出个人决定。然后，在做出第二个决定之前，他们收到了由其小组成员的决定组成的社会信息。此外，个人还报告了他们对线索的信念。我们的结果表明，个体在观察他人的决策后做出了更好的决策。有趣的是，尽管收到了相同的信息，个体还是形成了不同的线索信念，包括许多错误的信念。然而，线索信念的多样性并没有预测到集体的改善。通过模拟，我们发现多样化的集体确实提供了更好的社会信息，但由于过于依赖个人信息，个体无法从中受益。我们的研究结果强调了信念多样性对促进集体智慧的潜力，但表明这种潜力往往由于过度依赖个人信息而无法得到充分利用。
