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Related Experiment Videos

Consensus decision making in animals.

Larissa Conradt1, Timothy J Roper

  • 1Department of Biology and Environmental Science, John Maynard Smith Building, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, BN1 9QG. L.Conradt@sussex.ac.uk

Trends in Ecology & Evolution
|May 17, 2006
PubMed
Summary
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Animal groups make joint decisions to stay together. Consensus decision-making is common in social species, with cooperation being the norm even amid conflicts of interest.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Animal Cognition

Background:

  • Individual animals face fitness-critical decisions.
  • Social species require joint decision-making to maintain group cohesion.
  • Consensus is essential to prevent group dissolution.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review empirical and theoretical studies on consensus decision-making in animals.
  • To establish a coherent framework for understanding animal consensus decisions.
  • To classify consensus decisions based on conflict and communication.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of empirical and theoretical studies.
  • Classification of consensus decisions by conflict of interest and communication type (local vs. global).

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  • Analysis of decision-makers, underlying mechanisms, and functional consequences.

    • Main Results:

    • Consensus decision-making is prevalent across non-human animal species.
    • Cooperation is a common feature of group decision-making processes.
    • This cooperation persists even when individual interests conflict.

    Conclusions:

    • Consensus decision-making is a widespread phenomenon in the animal kingdom.
    • Cooperative decision-making is likely the standard, not the exception.
    • Understanding these processes is key to social behavior and group dynamics.