[LINK] Collective Intelligence Online and Face-To-Face

[Stephen Loosley]

Collective Intelligence Online and Face-To-Face

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0115212

Research Discussion

Taken together, these results provide strong empirical support for the emergence of collective-intelligence in online groups, and the conclusion that 'theory of mind' abilities (an ability to make inferences about others' mental states) are a significant determinant of group collective-intelligence, even when as in many online groups, the group has extremely limited communication channels.

This study underscores the importance of continuing to develop our understanding of the factors contributing to collective-intelligence in groups. 

Only recently have we come to understand collective-intelligence as a unique quality of groups, indicative of their ability to perform a variety of different tasks. 

Traditionally, a team’s potential has been conceptualized as the “resources” that are available to the group in the form of the information, intelligence, or other abilities of individual team members, typically measured as the aggregate of individual members’ g or general intelligence or the special expertise or task-specific cognitive abilities of team members.

The relationship between team cognitive ability and performance has been shown to vary with the way that cognitive ability is represented in the team and the type of task the team is performing. 

In particular, the performance of teams working on a task that requires a high degree of cooperation and communication is most influenced by the member with the lowest cognitive ability, because that person tends to slow the rest of the group. In contrast, on tasks for which the optimal strategy is to select the best member (e.g., running a race, or answering a factual question), the cognitive ability of the highest scoring member predicts performance. Finally, more complex, multi-faceted tasks that require each member of the team to perform a subtask and then combine inputs into a team product are most influenced by the average ability of team members, because higher average cognitive ability is associated with greater propensity to adapt to a changing environment, as well as to learn from new information discovered in the course of work ... (snip)

In summary, our results provide strong empirical support for the conclusion that even the collaboration of teams working online can be characterized by a single collective intelligence factor, and that 'theory of mind' abilities are just as important to group effectiveness in these online environments where many kinds of non-verbal communication are not possible ...

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Cheers,
Stephen
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