Self-serving incentives impair collective decisions by increasing conformity

Area of Science:

• Decision-making
• Social psychology
• Collective intelligence

Background:

• The "wisdom of the crowd" phenomenon suggests group judgment surpasses individual expertise.
• However, the impact of incentives and social information on collective intelligence is not fully understood.
• Existing beliefs link individual incentives to diverse thinking, but empirical evidence is mixed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how individual versus group reward structures influence collective intelligence.
• To examine the role of social information in moderating the effects of incentives on group estimation tasks.
• To determine if individual incentives inherently reduce or enhance collective decision-making.

Main Methods:

• An interactive group estimation task was designed to measure collective intelligence.
• Participants were assigned to either individual or group performance-based reward conditions.
• Social information (visibility of others' responses) was manipulated across conditions.

Main Results:

• Knowledge of others' responses decreased the wisdom of the crowd.
• Individual rewards led to increased social conformity and reduced diversity, diminishing group wisdom.
• Group rewards fostered opinion diversity and enhanced collective intelligence.

Conclusions:

• The common assumption that individual incentives foster independent thought requires revision.
• Reward structures significantly mediate the impact of social information on collective intelligence.
• Group-based incentives are more effective in promoting diversity and collective wisdom.