scholarly journals How collective comparisons emerge without individual comparisons of the options

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1787) ◽  
pp. 20140737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elva J. H. Robinson ◽  
Ofer Feinerman ◽  
Nigel R. Franks
Keyword(s):  
Nest Site ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Automated System ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Cooperative Process

Collective decisions in animal groups emerge from the actions of individuals who are unlikely to have global information. Comparative assessment of options can be valuable in decision-making. Ant colonies are excellent collective decision-makers, for example when selecting a new nest-site. Here, we test the dependency of this cooperative process on comparisons conducted by individual ants. We presented ant colonies with a choice between new nests: one good and one poor. Using individually radio-tagged ants and an automated system of doors, we manipulated individual-level access to information: ants visiting the good nest were barred from visiting the poor one and vice versa. Thus, no ant could individually compare the available options. Despite this, colonies still emigrated quickly and accurately when comparisons were prevented. Individual-level rules facilitated this behavioural robustness: ants allowed to experience only the poor nest subsequently searched more. Intriguingly, some ants appeared particularly discriminating across emigrations under both treatments, suggesting they had stable, high nest acceptance thresholds. Overall, our results show how a colony of ants, as a cognitive entity, can compare two options that are not both accessible by any individual ant. Our findings illustrate a collective decision process that is robust to differences in individual access to information.

scholarly journals Individual-level personality influences social foraging and collective behaviour in wild birds

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1789) ◽  
pp. 20141016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy M. Aplin ◽  
Damien R. Farine ◽  
Richard P. Mann ◽  
Ben C. Sheldon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Simple Interaction

There is increasing evidence that animal groups can maintain coordinated behaviour and make collective decisions based on simple interaction rules. Effective collective action may be further facilitated by individual variation within groups, particularly through leader–follower polymorphisms. Recent studies have suggested that individual-level personality traits influence the degree to which individuals use social information, are attracted to conspecifics, or act as leaders/followers. However, evidence is equivocal and largely limited to laboratory studies. We use an automated data-collection system to conduct an experiment testing the relationship between personality and collective decision-making in the wild. First, we report that foraging flocks of great tits ( Parus major ) show strikingly synchronous behaviour. A predictive model of collective decision-making replicates patterns well, suggesting simple interaction rules are sufficient to explain the observed social behaviour. Second, within groups, individuals with more reactive personalities behave more collectively, moving to within-flock areas of higher density. By contrast, proactive individuals tend to move to and feed at spatial periphery of flocks. Finally, comparing alternative simulations of flocking with empirical data, we demonstrate that variation in personality promotes within-patch movement while maintaining group cohesion. Our results illustrate the importance of incorporating individual variability in models of social behaviour.

Non-Congruent Views about Signal Precision in Collective Decisions

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Addison Pan ◽  
Simona Fabrizi ◽  
Steffen Lippert
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Information Aggregation ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Simple Majority ◽  
Voting Rules ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Decision Making Models ◽  
Conventional Models

Abstract We relax the standard assumptions in collective decision-making models that voters can not only derive a perfect view about the accuracy of the information at their disposal before casting their votes, but can, in addition, also correctly assess other voters’ views about it. We assume that decision-makers hold potentially differing views, while remaining ignorant about such differences, if any. In this setting, we find that information aggregation works well with voting rules other than simple majority: as voters vote less often against their information than in conventional models, they can deliver higher-quality decisions, including in the canonical 12 jurors case. We obtain voting equilibria with many instances, in which other voting rules, including unanimity, clearly outperform simple majority.

Near-Perfect Automation: Investigating Performance, Trust, and Visual Attention Allocation

2021 ◽  
pp. 001872082110328
Author(s):  
Cyrus K. Foroughi ◽  
Shannon Devlin ◽  
Richard Pak ◽  
Noelle L. Brown ◽  
Ciara Sibley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
False Alarm ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Automated System ◽  
Automated Systems ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Scan Pattern ◽  
Subjective Trust

Objective Assess performance, trust, and visual attention during the monitoring of a near-perfect automated system. Background Research rarely attempts to assess performance, trust, and visual attention in near-perfect automated systems even though they will be relied on in high-stakes environments. Methods Seventy-three participants completed a 40-min supervisory control task where they monitored three search feeds. All search feeds were 100% reliable with the exception of two automation failures: one miss and one false alarm. Eye-tracking and subjective trust data were collected. Results Thirty-four percent of participants correctly identified the automation miss, and 67% correctly identified the automation false alarm. Subjective trust increased when participants did not detect the automation failures and decreased when they did. Participants who detected the false alarm had a more complex scan pattern in the 2 min centered around the automation failure compared with those who did not. Additionally, those who detected the failures had longer dwell times in and transitioned to the center sensor feed significantly more often. Conclusion Not only does this work highlight the limitations of the human when monitoring near-perfect automated systems, it begins to quantify the subjective experience and attentional cost of the human. It further emphasizes the need to (1) reevaluate the role of the operator in future high-stakes environments and (2) understand the human on an individual level and actively design for the given individual when working with near-perfect automated systems. Application Multiple operator-level measures should be collected in real-time in order to monitor an operator’s state and leverage real-time, individualized assistance.

scholarly journals Understanding How Socioeconomic Inequalities Drive Inequalities In COVID-19 Infections

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachid Laajaj ◽  
Duncan Webb ◽  
Danilo Aristizabal ◽  
Eduardo Behrentz ◽  
Raquel Bernal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Process Model ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged ◽  
Infection Rates ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Disadvantaged Groups ◽  
The Poor

Abstract Background: Across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected economically disadvantaged groups. This differential impact has numerous possible explanations, each with significantly different policy implications. We examine, for the first time in a low- or middle-income country, which mechanisms best explain the disproportionate impact of the virus on the poor. Methods: We use primary data from the CoVIDA project, including the results of 59,770 RT-PCR tests in Bogotá, targeted on a mostly asymptomatic adult population June 2020 to March 3rd, 2021. This is combined with administrative data that covers all reported cases in Bogotá. We estimate a number of parameters that are likely to drive inequality in COVID-19 infection rates across socioeconomic groups, then use these estimates in an individual-level branching process model of the epidemic. We use counterfactual scenarios to estimate the relative importance of different channels for explaining inequality in infection rates. Findings: Total infections and inequalities in infections are largely driven by inequalities in the ability to work remotely and in within-home secondary attack rates. Inequalities in isolation behavior are less important but non-negligible, while access to testing and contract-tracing plays practically no role. Interventions that mitigate transmission are found to be more effective when targeted on socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.Interpretation: Socioeconomically disadvantaged groups are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 infections, and this appears to be primarily driven by the need to work out of home, higher transmission within home, and to some extent, the ability to isolate when needed. Policies that can successfully reduce these channels of transmission among the poor are likely to have large benefits.

scholarly journals MEMAKNAI KEMISKINAN BERDASARKAN PANDANGAN ORANG MISKIN PEDESAAN

Edulib ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tine Silvana ◽  
Pawit M Yusup ◽  
Priyo Subekti
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Social Condition ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Rural Poor ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Education Psychology

AbstractRural poverty can be understood as a social condition of a person, or a group of people who were associated with aspects of economic and non-economic aspects. Scientific aspects such as social, cultural, health, education, psychology, the environment, law, anthropology, and art, was often associated with poverty. Nevertheless, the notion of poor and rural poverty is, in general, is still viewed by researcher's perspective, rather than emic, ie see something from the perspective of the participant. This study took part of the effort to comprehensively understand the meaning of poor and poverty in the eyes of the poor, especially in rural areas, roomates point is on how to map view of rural poor people in hopes of interpreting experience of livelihood as poor in underlying survival living. By using a qualitative study approach, especially the tradition of phenomenology of Schutz, obtained a description of the results, that the meaning of poor and poverty, in phenomenology, containing context, such as: context ownership; contexts effort and trial and error; contexts powerlessness; contexts outside assistance; independence in the context of compulsion; contexts unattainable expectations; context of the struggle; context of limited access to information; contexts low curiosity; contexts simplicity needs; problems humiliation context; and context sensitivity in social communication.Keywords: Meaning poor, Poverty, Rural AbstrakKemiskinan di pedesaan dapat dipahami sebagai suatu kondisi sosial seseorang, atau sekelompok orang yang terkait dengan aspek-aspek ekonomi dan non-ekonomi. Aspek ilmiah seperti sosial, budaya, kesehatan, pendidikan, psikologi, lingkungan, hukum, antropologi, dan seni, yang sering dikaitkan dengan kemiskinan. Namun demikian, gagasan tentang kemiskinan dan pedesaan, secara umum, masih dilihat dari perspektif peneliti, bukan emik, yaitu melihat sesuatu dari perspektif partisipan. Penelitian ini mengambil bagian dari upaya untuk secara komprehensif memahami makna miskin dan kemiskinan di mata masyarakat miskin, terutama di daerah pedesaan, which titik adalah bagaimana memetakan pandangan masyarakat miskin pedesaan dengan harapan pengalaman yang menafsirkan mata pencaharian sebagai masyarakat miskin untuk bertahan hidup. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan studi kualitatif, khususnya tradisi fenomenologi Schutz, diperoleh gambaran hasil, bahwa makna miskin dan kemiskinan, dalam fenomenologi, mengandung konteks, seperti: kepemilikan konteks; Upaya konteks dan trial and error; Ketidakberdayaan konteks; konteks di luar bantuan; kemerdekaan dalam konteks paksaan; konteks harapan tercapai; konteks perjuangan; konteks terbatasnya akses terhadap informasi; konteks rasa ingin tahu yang rendah; kesederhanaan konteks kebutuhan; konteks masalah penghinaan; dan sensitivitas konteks komunikasi sosial.Kata Kunci : Makna kemiskinan, Kemiskinan, Desa

scholarly journals Interactions, information and emergence: Exploring task allocation in ant colonies using network analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anshuman Swain ◽  
Sara D Williams ◽  
Louisa J Di Felice ◽  
Elizabeth A Hobson
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Functional Groups ◽  
Task Allocation ◽  
Interaction Networks ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Network Measures ◽  
Interaction History ◽  
The Impact

In animal societies, individuals may take on different roles to fulfil their own needs and the needs of their groups. Ant colonies display high levels of organisational complexity, with ants fulfilling different roles at different timescales (what is known as task allocation). Factors affecting task allocation can be at the individual level (e.g., physiology), or at the group level (e.g., interaction histories). In this work, we focus on group level processes by exploring the impact of the history of interaction networks on task allocation and task switching using a previously published dataset (Mersch et al., 2013) tracking the behaviour of six Camponotus fellah colonies over 41 days. First, we investigated the architecture of interaction networks using node (individual) level network measures and their relation to the individual's task - foraging, cleaning or nursing - and whether or not the ant switched tasks. We then explored how noisy information propagation is among ants, as a function of the colony composition (how many ants are carrying out which tasks), through the information-theoretic metric of effective information. Our results show that interaction history affected task allocation, with ants more likely to switch to a task if they had interacted with other ants carrying out that task. The degree to which interaction history affected task allocation, as well as the noise in their interactions, depended on which groups of ants are interacting. Overall, we showed that colony cohesion is stable even as ant-level network measures vary more for ants when they switched functional groups; thus ant colonies maintain a high level of information flow as determined by network analysis and ant functional groups play different roles in maintaining colony cohesion.

The Maze and the Masses

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Landemore
Keyword(s):  
Decision Procedure ◽  
Collective Intelligence ◽  
Thought Experiment ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
The People ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Masses

This chapter argues that collective intelligence offers an attractive solution to the problem of the average citizen's ignorance and irrationality. It first illustrates this point by presenting the metaphor of the maze, inspired by Descartes' thought experiment in the Discourse on Method. Next, the chapter sets out the definition of “democracy,” which gains a certain meaning and relevance within the context of this book—as, primarily, an inclusive collective decision procedure, that is, a procedure for collective decisions characterized by the fact that it is inclusive, more or less directly, of all the members of the group for whom decisions need to be made. The chapter then considers the domain of democratic reason and politics, before turning to the concept of democratic reason as the collective intelligence of the people. Finally, the chapter closes with a brief overview of the following chapters.

Teenagers' Socio and Cultural Values

2015 ◽  
pp. 60-81
Author(s):  
Georg Dutschke ◽  
Julio Garcia del Junco ◽  
Francisco Espansandín-Bustelo ◽  
Mariana Dutschke ◽  
Beatriz Palacios Florencio
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Adolescents And Young Adults ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Poor Academic Performance ◽  
Very High

Investigations related to national culture and young are becoming more important (Brown et al., 2002; Larson, 2011). Gelhaar et al. (2007) state that “there is great concern about the poor academic performance and wiling to entrepreneurship of the adolescents and young adults in European countries, especially in the southern regions, where youth unemployment is very high”. For Iberia it's very important that adolescents and young adults have the want to become entrepreneurs, by developing new projects but, mainly, by having entrepreneurship as a purpose for their professional life. Entrepreneurship should be developed both at an individual level and within the organizations. It´s key to achive success, since originates innovation, both incremental and disruptive. This exploratory research aims to identify the relations between teenagers' socio and cultural values and their want to become entrepreneurs. In concrete, if socio and cultural dimensions identified by Hofstede and Minkov (2010) are related with the want to become entrepreneur.

scholarly journals Rational time investment during collective decision making in Temnothorax ants

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 20190542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takao Sasaki ◽  
Benjamin Stott ◽  
Stephen C. Pratt
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Temnothorax Albipennis ◽  
Time Investment ◽  
Decision Outcomes ◽  
Nest Site Choice ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

The study of rational choice in humans and other animals typically focuses on decision outcomes, but rationality also applies to decision latencies, especially when time is scarce and valuable. For example, the smaller the difference in quality between two options, the faster a rational actor should decide between them. This is because the consequences of choosing the inferior option are less severe if the options are similar. Experiments have shown, however, that humans irrationally spend more time choosing between similar options. In this study, we assessed the rationality of time investment during nest-site choice by the rock ant, Temnothorax albipennis . Previous studies have shown that collective decision-making allows ant colonies to avoid certain irrational errors. Here we show that the same is true for time investment. Individual ants, like humans, irrationally took more time to complete an emigration when choosing between two similar nests than when choosing between two less similar nests. Whole colonies, by contrast, rationally made faster decisions when the options were more similar. We discuss the underlying mechanisms of decision-making in individuals and colonies and how they lead to irrational and rational time investment, respectively.

Altruism as a pathway to unethical action

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-247
Author(s):  
Michael Babula ◽  
Max Tookey ◽  
Glenn Muschert ◽  
Mark Neal
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Maker ◽  
Unethical Behavior ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Poor

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to answer the question, “Can particular types of altruism influence people to make unethical decisions?” The purpose of seeking to answer this question is to better understand those cases in personal, public and commercial life whereby a decision-maker is influenced by what is widely perceived to be a positive thing – altruism – to make unethical choices. Design/methodology/approach An experiment was designed to test the influence of different categories of altruism on decision-making about whether to find another guilty for a regulatory transgression. This involved the establishment and running of a student panel at a UK university, which was given the task of determining the guilt or otherwise of two students accused of plagiarism – one from a poor background; one from a rich background. Through a survey of both the decision-makers and their judgments, and by analyzing the data using t-tests and Mann–Whitney tests, the associations between different categories of altruism and the decisions made could be ascertained. Findings A total of 70.7% of the participants voted “not-guilty” for the poor student, whereas 68.3% voted “guilty” for the wealthy student. This indicated that self-interested, namely, egoistic altruism complemented by social and self-esteem needs gratification was significantly associated with violating foundational ethical principles. Originality/value This is the first study to be done that attempts to evaluate the relationships between different categories of altruism and ethical decision-making. The findings here challenge aggregating all forms of empathy together when exploring the antecedents of unethical behavior.

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