Groups of Diverse Problem Solvers Can Outperform Groups of High-Ability Problem Solvers

@article{HongAndPage2004DiverseProblem, abstract = {We introduce a general framework for modeling functionally diverse problem-solving agents. In this framework, problem-solving agents possess representations of problems and algorithms that they use to locate solutions. We use this framework to establish a result relevant to group composition. We find that when selecting a problem-solving team from a diverse population of intelligent agents, a team of randomly selected agents outperforms a team comprised of the best-performing agents. This result relies on the intuition that, as the initial pool of problem solvers becomes large, the best-performing agents necessarily become similar in the space of problem solvers. Their relatively greater ability is more than offset by their lack of problem-solving diversity.}, author = {Hong, Lu and Page, Scott E. and Baumol, William J. }, citeulike-article-id = {2613805}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}, keywords = {abm, collective-cognition, problem-solving}, number = {46}, pages = {16385--16389}, posted-at = {2008-03-30 21:08:32}, priority = {5}, title = {Groups of Diverse Problem Solvers Can Outperform Groups of High-Ability Problem Solvers}, url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/3373827}, volume = {101}, year = {2004} }

TY - JOUR ID - HongAndPage2004DiverseProblem L3 - citeulike-article-id:2613805 TI - Groups of Diverse Problem Solvers Can Outperform Groups of High-Ability Problem Solvers JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America VL - 101 IS - 46 SP - 16385 EP - 16389 N2 - We introduce a general framework for modeling functionally diverse problem-solving agents. In this framework, problem-solving agents possess representations of problems and algorithms that they use to locate solutions. We use this framework to establish a result relevant to group composition. We find that when selecting a problem-solving team from a diverse population of intelligent agents, a team of randomly selected agents outperforms a team comprised of the best-performing agents. This result relies on the intuition that, as the initial pool of problem solvers becomes large, the best-performing agents necessarily become similar in the space of problem solvers. Their relatively greater ability is more than offset by their lack of problem-solving diversity. KW - abm KW - collective-cognition KW - problem-solving AU - Hong, Lu AU - Page, Scott AU - Baumol, William PY - 2004/// UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/3373827 ER -