Transmission Chains or Independent Solvers? A Comparative Study of Two Collective Problem-Solving Methods

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Groups can be very successful problem-solvers. This collective achievement crucially depends on how the group is structured, that is, how information flows between members and how individual contributions are merged. Numerous methods have been proposed, which can be divided into two major categories: those that involve an exchange of information between the group members, and those that do not. Here we compare two instances of such methods for solving complex problems: (1) transmission chains, where individuals tackle the problem one after the other, each one building on the solution of the predecessor and (2) groups of independent solvers, where individuals tackle the problem independently, and the best solution found in the group is selected afterwards.</jats:p><jats:p>By means of numerical simulations and experimental observations, we show that the best performing method is determined by the interplay between two key factors: the skills of the individuals and the difficulty of the problem. We find that transmission chains are superior either when the problem is rather easy, or when the group is composed of rather unskilled individuals. On the contrary, groups of independent solvers are preferable for harder problems or for groups of rather skillful individuals. Finally, we deepen the comparison by studying the impact of the group size and diversity. Our research stresses that efficient collective problem-solving requires a good matching between the nature of the problem and the structure of the group.</jats:p>

Emergent processes as means of uncertainty reduction in group decision making

“…Over the years, research on group decision making has employed various paradigms or tasks and it has been shown that, depending on the decision task, different processes might influence group decision performance (Kerr et al, 1996;Moussaïd & Yahosseini, 2016;Yahosseini & Moussaïd, 2019). Steiner (1972) proposed to categorize tasks according to component (i.e., is the task divisible between group members or does it need to be solved together), focus (i.e., does the task require a "good" solution -optimizing, or does it require many different solutions -maximizing), and interdependence (i.e., in which way can group members combine their different contributions to the task).…”

“…Note that these group distinctions are mainly distinctions of group task design (e.g., within an experiment) and do not necessarily emerge during group interaction. The different task types will affect group decision making in the way they structure a group's environment and either enable or constrain individual contributions (Yahosseini & Moussaïd, 2019). This dissertation will present different task types: In Chapter 3, groups are faced with generally intellective tasks (i.e., tasks that have objectively correct solutions) that require inference of the best option and are low on demonstrability.…”