When and why groups outthink individuals — the science of collective intelligence. Covers Woolley's c-factor (group IQ), Surowiecki's wisdom of crowds conditions, diversity-ability tradeoffs (Page), prediction markets, and the breakdown conditions where groups become dumber than their members. Bridges organizational psychology, decision science, and complexity theory.
Study of how cognitive diversity, social structure, and information aggregation rules determine whether groups produce more accurate judgments than individuals. Examines prediction markets, team problem-solving, crowd forecasting, and deliberation failures.
collective_intelligence_factor
Collective Intelligence Factor (c)A single statistical factor explaining 30-50% of variance in group performance across diverse tasks — analogous to 'g' for individuals. Measured via group performance battery (Brainstorming, Typing, Matrix Reasoning, Moral Judgments). NOT correlated with average or maximum member IQ.
social_sensitivity
Social SensitivityAverage group member score on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RME). The strongest individual-level predictor of collective intelligence — groups with higher average social perceptiveness coordinate and integrate information more effectively.
conversational_turn_taking
Conversational Turn-Taking EqualityEvenness of speaking time distribution within a group. Measured as 1 - Gini coefficient of turn counts. Groups where one member dominates discussion show lower collective intelligence, even if that member is the smartest.
cognitive_diversity
Cognitive DiversityVariance in problem-solving approaches, mental models, and heuristics within a group. Operationalized via diverse cognitive toolkit measures or functional background diversity. Distinct from demographic diversity — cognitive diversity predicts group performance; demographic diversity does not after controlling for cognitive diversity.
social_influence_bias
Social Influence BiasThe distortion of independent judgments when group members observe each others' estimates before finalizing their own. Reduces effective sample size of the crowd, destroying the error-cancellation mechanism that produces wisdom. Even small amounts of social information can cut crowd accuracy by 25-50%.
prediction_market_accuracy
Prediction Market AccuracyCalibration and discrimination of market-aggregated probability estimates compared to polls, models, and expert panels. Prediction markets consistently outperform polls for election forecasting and match or beat expert panels for geopolitical questions. Brier scores typically 0.15-0.25 for well-functioning markets.
Domain: Collective Intelligence & Group Cognition
Study of how cognitive diversity, social structure, and information aggregation rules determine whether groups produce more accurate judgments than individuals. Examines prediction markets, team problem-solving, crowd forecasting, and deliberation failures.
Temporal scope: 1906-present | Population: Small groups (3-10), crowds (100+), online platforms, prediction markets
Install this PAX into your Praxis instance:
praxis_import_pax("collective-intelligence-group-cognition.pax.tar.gz", install=True)