Group intelligence
Encyclopedia
Group intelligence refers to a process by which large numbers of people simultaneously converge upon the same point(s) of knowledge
.
Social psychologists study group intelligence and related topics such as decentralized decision making
and group wisdom, using demographic information to study the ramifications for long-term social change. Marketing and behavioral finance
experts use similar research to forecast consumer behavior (e.g. buying patterns) for corporate strategic purposes.
The term is often interchanged with the terms collective intelligence
, cointelligence, crowd wisdom, and herd mentality
. It is also used in conjunction with early adopters to describe how buying decisions are made for consumer products and in the stock market.
James Surowiecki
, in The Wisdom of Crowds, claims that, ironically, group intelligence requires independence of thought as well as superior judgment. Unlike herd behavior, group intelligence—like crowd wisdom—is a uniquely human phenomenon. And, unlike the terms herd behavior
and herd mentality
, group intelligence connotes more rational decision processes: based less upon emotional reactions and more upon knowledge and understanding.
and Gustav Le Bon. Herd behavior in human societies has also been studied by Sigmund Freud
and Wilfred Trotter
, whose book Herd Instincts in Peace and War is a classic in the field of social psychology. Economist/Sociologist Thorstein Veblen
's Theory of the Leisure Class illustrates how individuals imitate other group members of higher social status in their consumer behavior. Francis Galton
, (1822-1911)a British Scientist who conducted anthropometric and psychometric studies on human behavior, is famous for his "ox" guesstimation study. Dr. Galton queried a crowd about the weight of an ox, and their guesses compiled and averaged were within one pound of its actual weight.
More recently, Malcolm Gladwell
in The Tipping Point, examines how cultural, social, and economic factors converge to create trends in consumer behavior. James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds explains how group intelligence works—and doesn't work—to benefit mankind.
A popular example of group intelligence was the TV game show, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Contestants were asked questions from history and popular culture, and when stumped, can query the audience. When audience members are polled for answers during the show, they are correct 91% of the time.
Twenty-first century academic fields such as marketing and behavioral finance draw upon group intelligence gathering data to identify and predict the rational and irrational behavior of investors. (See the work of Daniel Kahneman
, Robert Shiller
, and Amos Tversky
.) Driven by emotional reactions such as greed and fear, investors can be seen to join in frenetic purchasing and sales of stocks, creating bubbles and crashes.
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
.
Social psychologists study group intelligence and related topics such as decentralized decision making
Decentralized decision making
Decentralized decision making is any process where the decision making authority is distributed throughout a larger group. It also connotes a higher authority given to lower level functionaries, executives, and workers. This can be in any organization of any size, from a governmental authority to a...
and group wisdom, using demographic information to study the ramifications for long-term social change. Marketing and behavioral finance
Behavioral finance
Behavioral economics and its related area of study, behavioral finance, use social, cognitive and emotional factors in understanding the economic decisions of individuals and institutions performing economic functions, including consumers, borrowers and investors, and their effects on market...
experts use similar research to forecast consumer behavior (e.g. buying patterns) for corporate strategic purposes.
Definition
The term group intelligence describes how, under the best circumstances, large numbers of people simultaneously converge upon the same point(s) of knowledge.The term is often interchanged with the terms collective intelligence
Collective intelligence
Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans and computer networks....
, cointelligence, crowd wisdom, and herd mentality
Herd mentality
Herd mentality describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items. Examples of the herd mentality include stock market trends, fashions in apparel, cars, taste in music, home décor, etc...
. It is also used in conjunction with early adopters to describe how buying decisions are made for consumer products and in the stock market.
James Surowiecki
James Surowiecki
James Michael Surowiecki is an American journalist. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes a regular column on business and finance called "The Financial Page".-Background:...
, in The Wisdom of Crowds, claims that, ironically, group intelligence requires independence of thought as well as superior judgment. Unlike herd behavior, group intelligence—like crowd wisdom—is a uniquely human phenomenon. And, unlike the terms herd behavior
Herd behavior
Herd behavior describes how individuals in a group can act together without planned direction. The term pertains to the behavior of animals in herds, flocks and schools, and to human conduct during activities such as stock market bubbles and crashes, street demonstrations, sporting events,...
and herd mentality
Herd mentality
Herd mentality describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items. Examples of the herd mentality include stock market trends, fashions in apparel, cars, taste in music, home décor, etc...
, group intelligence connotes more rational decision processes: based less upon emotional reactions and more upon knowledge and understanding.
History
The idea of a "group mind" or "mob behavior" was first put forward by 19th century French social psychologists Gabriel TardeGabriel Tarde
Jean-Gabriel De Tarde or Gabriel Tarde in short French sociologist, criminologist and social psychologist who conceived sociology as based on small psychological interactions among individuals , the fundamental forces being imitation and innovation.- Theory :Among the concepts...
and Gustav Le Bon. Herd behavior in human societies has also been studied by Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and Wilfred Trotter
Wilfred Trotter
Wilfred Batten Lewis Trotter, FRS was a British surgeon, a pioneer in neurosurgery. He was also known for his studies on social psychology, most notably for his concept of the herd instinct, which he first outlined in two published papers in 1908, and later in his famous popular work Instincts of...
, whose book Herd Instincts in Peace and War is a classic in the field of social psychology. Economist/Sociologist Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Bunde Veblen, born Torsten Bunde Veblen was an American economist and sociologist, and a leader of the so-called institutional economics movement...
's Theory of the Leisure Class illustrates how individuals imitate other group members of higher social status in their consumer behavior. Francis Galton
Francis Galton
Sir Francis Galton /ˈfrɑːnsɪs ˈgɔːltn̩/ FRS , cousin of Douglas Strutt Galton, half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath: anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician...
, (1822-1911)a British Scientist who conducted anthropometric and psychometric studies on human behavior, is famous for his "ox" guesstimation study. Dr. Galton queried a crowd about the weight of an ox, and their guesses compiled and averaged were within one pound of its actual weight.
More recently, Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
in The Tipping Point, examines how cultural, social, and economic factors converge to create trends in consumer behavior. James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds explains how group intelligence works—and doesn't work—to benefit mankind.
A popular example of group intelligence was the TV game show, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Contestants were asked questions from history and popular culture, and when stumped, can query the audience. When audience members are polled for answers during the show, they are correct 91% of the time.
Twenty-first century academic fields such as marketing and behavioral finance draw upon group intelligence gathering data to identify and predict the rational and irrational behavior of investors. (See the work of Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist and Nobel laureate. He is notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, behavioral economics and hedonic psychology....
, Robert Shiller
Robert Shiller
Robert James "Bob" Shiller is an American economist, academic, and best-selling author. He currently serves as the Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics at Yale University and is a Fellow at the Yale International Center for Finance, Yale School of Management...
, and Amos Tversky
Amos Tversky
Amos Nathan Tversky, was a cognitive and mathematical psychologist, a pioneer of cognitive science, a longtime collaborator of Daniel Kahneman, and a key figure in the discovery of systematic human cognitive bias and handling of risk. Much of his early work concerned the foundations of measurement...
.) Driven by emotional reactions such as greed and fear, investors can be seen to join in frenetic purchasing and sales of stocks, creating bubbles and crashes.
See also
- Change agents
- Cointelligence
- Collective intelligenceCollective intelligenceCollective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans and computer networks....
- Crowd psychologyCrowd psychologyCrowd psychology is a branch of social psychology. Ordinary people can typically gain direct power by acting collectively. Historically, because large groups of people have been able to bring about dramatic and sudden social change in a manner that bypasses established due process, they have also...
- Crowd wisdom
- Decentralized decision makingDecentralized decision makingDecentralized decision making is any process where the decision making authority is distributed throughout a larger group. It also connotes a higher authority given to lower level functionaries, executives, and workers. This can be in any organization of any size, from a governmental authority to a...
- Delphi methodDelphi methodThe Delphi method is a structured communication technique, originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts.In the standard version, the experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds...
- Early adopter
- GroupthinkGroupthinkGroupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within groups of people. It is the mode of thinking that happens when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without...
- Herd instinct
- Information cascade
- Opinion leadershipOpinion leadershipOpinion leadership is a concept that arises out of the theory of two-step flow of communication propounded by Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz. This theory is one of several models that try to explain the diffusion of innovations, ideas, or commercial products....
- Predictive markets
- Social networks
External links
- http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata99.htm
- http://www.hsx.com/
- http://www.guessnow.com
- http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/
- http://www.predictivemarkets.com
- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3806781
- http://www.randomhouse.com/features/wisdomofcrowds/excerpt.html
- https://weblamp.princeton.edu/~psych/psychology/research/kahneman/