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Cognitive cooperation : When the going gets tough, think as a group
David Sloan Wilson1, John J Timmel2, Ralph R Miller2
1Department of Biology, Binghamton University, 13902-6000, Binghamton, NY. Dwilson@binghamton.edu.
Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)
|July 21, 2015
Summary
Group thinking enhances cognitive tasks, especially challenging ones beyond individual capacity. This study highlights cognitive cooperation as a key area for human evolutionary psychology research.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Cooperation is observed in both physical and cognitive activities across species.
- Cognitive cooperation in humans, particularly in complex tasks, remains understudied.
- Traditional psychological and evolutionary perspectives have often focused on individual cognition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the phenomenon of cognitive cooperation in human groups.
- To demonstrate the benefits of group thinking for challenging cognitive tasks.
- To establish cognitive cooperation as a central topic in human evolutionary psychology.
Main Methods:
- Conducted two experiments to compare group versus individual performance on cognitive tasks.
- Included a brainstorming task to address difficulties in demonstrating group advantages.
- Focused on tasks exceeding individual cognitive capacities.
Main Results:
- Groups demonstrated superiority over individuals on sufficiently challenging cognitive tasks.
- Group thinking proved advantageous even in formats like brainstorming.
- Cognitive cooperation can operate implicitly and without explicit training.
Conclusions:
- Human groups can exhibit superior cognitive performance through cooperation.
- Cognitive cooperation is a crucial, yet underappreciated, aspect of human evolution.
- Further research into cognitive cooperation is warranted within evolutionary psychology.
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