Groups perform better than the best individuals on letters-to-numbers problems: Effects of group size.
Abstract
Individuals and groups of 2, 3, 4, or 5 people solved 2 letters-to-numbers problems that required participants, on each trial, to identify the coding of 10 letters to 10 numbers by proposing an equation in letters, receiving the answer in letters, proposing a hypothesis, and receiving feedback on the correctness of the hypothesis. Groups of 3, 4, and 5 people proposed more complex equations and had fewer trials to solution than the best of an equivalent number of individuals. Groups of 3, 4, and 5 people had fewer trials to solution than 2-person groups but did not differ from each other. These results suggest that 3-person groups are necessary and sufficient to perform better than the best individuals on highly intellective problems.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Group learning is superior to individual learning for relatively complex problem-solving tasks.
“These findings are consistent with previous research on group versus individual learning which showed that group learning is superior to individual learning for relatively complex problem-solving tasks (Laughlin et al. 2002;Laughlin et al. 2006) and that individual learning is superior to group learning for relatively simple recall tasks (e.g., Andersson and Rönnberg 1995;Meudell et al. 1992;Weld”
From Making the Black Box of Collaborative Learning Transparent: Combining Process-Oriented and Cognitive Load Approaches (2010) · cites this paper as Laughlin et al. 2006
Cites
Olson, M. (1965) · doi:10.4159/9780674041660 · Cited by 14,191 · see citing works
The Logic of Collective Action.
Golembiewski, R. T., & Olson, M. (1966) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2091298 · Cited by 11,371 · see citing works
DeLamater, J., & Ward, A. (2013) · Handbooks of sociology and social research · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6772-0 · Cited by 7,565 · see citing works
Axten, N., Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1973) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2063712 · Cited by 6,883 · see citing works
Newell, A. (1972) · Cited by 6,222 · see citing works
Teams in Organizations: From Input-Process-Output Models to IMOI Models
Ilgen, D. R., Hollenbeck, J. R., Johnson, M., & Jundt, D. (2005) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070250 · Cited by 2,273 · see citing works
A HANDBOOK OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
&NA; (1935) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/00005053-193512000-00062 · Cited by 2,250 · see citing works
Group process and productivity
Steiner, I. D. (1972) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 2,106 · see citing works
Confirmation, disconfirmation, and information in hypothesis testing
Klayman, J., & Ha, Y.-W. (1987) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.94.2.211 · Cited by 2,094 · see citing works
Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: Toward the solution of a riddle.
Diehl, M., & Stroebe, W. (1987) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.3.497 · Cited by 1,925 · see citing works
The emerging conceptualization of groups as information processors.
Hinsz, V. B., Tindale, R. S., & Vollrath, D. A. (1997) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.121.1.43 · Cited by 1,428 · cited 1× · see citing works
“We attribute this superiority of three-person, four-person, and five-person groups over the best of an equivalent number of individuals to the highly intellective nature of letters-to-numbers problems, which allow recognition and adoption of correct responses, recognition and rejection of erroneous responses, and effe…”
BackgroundGroup Performance and Decision Making
Kerr, N. L., & Tindale, R. S. (2004) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142009 · Cited by 1,332 · see citing works
Mechanization in problem solving: The effect of Einstellung.
Luchins, A. S. (1942) · Psychological Monographs · doi:10.1037/h0093502 · Cited by 1,143 · see citing works
Group Versus Individual Training and Group Performance: The Mediating Role of Transactive Memory
Liang, D. W., Moreland, R. L., & Argote, L. (1995) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167295214009 · Cited by 1,000 · see citing works
Group process and productivity
Washburn, P. V. (1973) · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · Cited by 869 · see citing works
Productivity loss in idea-generating groups: Tracking down the blocking effect.
Diehl, M., & Stroebe, W. (1991) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.61.3.392 · Cited by 730 · see citing works
Group versus individual performance: Are N + 1 heads better than one?
Hill, G. W. (1982) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.91.3.517 · Cited by 692 · see citing works
Motivation losses in small groups: A social dilemma analysis.
Kerr, N. L. (1983) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.45.4.819 · Cited by 669 · see citing works
Discovery of hidden profiles by decision-making groups: Solving a problem versus making a judgment.
Stasser, G. L., & Stewart, D. D. (1992) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.63.3.426 · Cited by 613 · see citing works
The common knowledge effect: Information sharing and group judgment.
Gigone, D., & Hastie, R. (1993) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.5.959 · Cited by 545 · see citing works
Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
Hendrick, C. (1987) · Cited by 544 · see citing works
Demonstrability and social combination processes on mathematical intellective tasks
Laughlin, P. R., & Ellis, A. L. (1986) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(86)90022-3 · Cited by 534 · see citing works
Self-citationIdea Generation in Computer-Based Groups: A New Ending to an Old Story
Valacich, J. S., Dennis, A. R., & Connolly, T. (1994) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.1994.1024 · Cited by 412 · see citing works
Emerging Perspectives on Judgment and Decision Research
Schneider, S. L., & Shanteau, J. (2003) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511609978 · Cited by 348 · see citing works
Models for inferring relationships between group size and potential group productivity
Steiner, I. D. (1966) · Systems Research and Behavioral Science · doi:10.1002/bs.3830110404 · Cited by 259 · see citing works
An input-process-output analysis of influence and performance in problem-solving groups.
Littlepage, G. E., Schmidt, G. W., Whisler, E. W., & Frost, A. G. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.877 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
‘Social Sharedness’ as a Unifying Theme for Information Processing in Groups
Tindale, R. S., & Kameda, T. (2000) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430200003002002 · Cited by 225 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Tindale and Kameda (2000) and Kameda, Tindale, and Davis (2003) generalized the first of these conditions in their concept of social sharedness, the degree to which preferences and cognitions are shared among group members at the outset of group interaction.”
BackgroundGroups perform better than the best individuals on Letters-to-Numbers problems
Laughlin, P. R., Bonner, B. L., & Miner, A. G. (2002) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/s0749-5978(02)00003-1 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Self-citationThe effects of member expertise on group decision-making and performance
Bonner, B. L., Baumann, M. R., & Dalal, R. S. (2002) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/s0749-5978(02)00010-9 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Maier, N. R. F., & Solem, A. R. (1952) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/001872675200500303 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Laughlin, P. R., VanderStoep, S. W., & Hollingshead, A. B. (1991) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.61.1.50 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Self-citationSingh, S. (1999) · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Twenty questions: efficiency in problem solving as a function of size of group.
Taylor, D. W., & Faust, W. L. (1952) · Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0054376 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Effects of group size, problem difficulty, and sex on group performance and member reactions.
Bray, R. M., Kerr, N. L., & Atkin, R. S. (1978) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.36.11.1224 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Decision Accuracy in Computer-Mediated versus Face-to-Face Decision-Making Teams
Hedlund, J., Ilgen, D. R., & Hollenbeck, J. R. (1998) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.1998.2796 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Collective Induction: Twelve Postulates
Laughlin, P. R. (1999) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.1999.2854 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Self-citationModels of group problem solving.
Thomas, E. J., & Fink, C. F. (1961) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0040512 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Laughlin, P. R., Zander, M. L., Knievel, E. M., & Tan, T. K. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.4.684 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Self-citationKameda, T., Tindale, R. S., & Davis, J. H. (2003) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511609978.016 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Thorndike, R. L. (1938) · The Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/00224545.1938.9920036 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Hollingshead, A. B. (1998) · Small Group Research · doi:10.1177/1046496498292006 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Group size, member ability, and social decision schemes on an intellective task.
Laughlin, P. R., Kerr, N. L., Davis, J. H., Halff, H. M., & Marciniak, K. A. (1975) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0076474 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Self-citationEffects of Assigned Group Consensus Requirement on Group Problem Solving and Group Members' Learning
Stasson, M. F., Kameda, T., Parks, C. D., Zimmerman, S. K., & Davis, J. H. (1991) · Social Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2786786 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Expertise in Group Problem Solving: Recognition, Social Combination, and Performance.
Bonner, B. L. (2004) · Group Dynamics Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1037/1089-2699.8.4.277 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Lorge, I. D., & Solomon, H. (1959) · The Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1080/00223980.1959.9916346 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Lorge, I. D., & Solomon, H. (2007) · Systems Research and Behavioral Science · doi:10.1002/bs.3830050103 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Crott, H. W., Giesel, M., & Hoffmann, C. (1998) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.4.938 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory
Mercier, H., & Sperber, D. (2011) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x10000968 · Cited by 2,254 · see citing works
Motivated Information Processing in Group Judgment and Decision Making
De Dreu, C. K. W., Nijstad, B. A., & van Knippenberg, D. (2008) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868307304092 · Cited by 754 · see citing works
A Cognitive Load Approach to Collaborative Learning: United Brains for Complex Tasks
Kirschner, F., Paas, F., & Kirschner, P. A. (2009) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-008-9095-2 · Cited by 547 · see citing works
“When learners had to work with the information elements relevant for carrying out the task, relate them to each other and by doing so come up with a solution to a problem, groups not only outperformed individuals but also the nominal group (Andersson and Ronnberg 1995; Kirschner et al. 2008; Kramer 1999; Laughlin et a…”
BackgroundInfluentialGroup Size, Group Development, and Group Productivity
Wheelan, S. A. (2009) · Small Group Research · doi:10.1177/1046496408328703 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Kirschner, F., PAAS, F. G. W. C., & Kirschner, P. A. (2009) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.008 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
When are two heads better than one and why?
Koriat, A. (2012) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1216549 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
The impact of collaboration on the outcomes of scientific argumentation
Sampson, V. D., & Clark, D. B. (2008) · Science Education · doi:10.1002/sce.20306 · Cited by 259 · see citing works
When Is It Better to Learn Together? Insights from Research on Collaborative Learning
Nokes-Malach, T. J., Richey, J. E., & Gadgil, S. (2015) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-015-9312-8 · Cited by 308 · see citing works
“…that has examined effects of dyad or group performance compared to individual performance on a single task such as puzzle problem solving (e.g., Laughlin et al. 2006), brainstorming (e.g., Paulus and Yang 2000), and scientific discovery (e.g., Okada and Simon 1997), among others (see Kerr and…”
BackgroundGarbers, Y., & Konradt, U. (2013) · Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1111/joop.12039 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
Kirschner, F., Paas, F., & Kirschner, P. A. (2011) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.1730 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
“, fictitious groups formed by pooling the non-redundant performances of individuals) (Laughlin et al., 2006; Ohtsubo, 2005).”
BackgroundTeam creativity/innovation in culturally diverse teams: A meta‐analysis
Wang, J., Cheng, G. H. ‐., Chen, T., & Leung, K. Y. (2019) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2362 · Cited by 228 · see citing works
Larger groups are more successful in innovative problem solving in house sparrows
Liker, A., & Bókony, V. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0900042106 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Marketing activity, blogging and sales
Onishi, H., & Manchanda, P. (2012) · International Journal of Research in Marketing · doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2011.11.003 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Larger groups of passerines are more efficient problem solvers in the wild
Morand‐Ferron, J., & Quinn, J. L. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1111560108 · Cited by 211 · see citing works
The psychology of intelligence analysis: drivers of prediction accuracy in world politics.
Mellers, B., Stone, E., Atanasov, P., Rohrbaugh, N., Metz, S. E., Ungar, L., Bishop, M., Horowitz, M. C., Merkle, E., & Tetlock, P. (2015) · Journal of experimental psychology. Applied · doi:10.1037/xap0000040 · Cited by 199 · see citing works
Making better decisions in groups
Bang, D., & Frith, C. (2017) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.170193 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Janssen, J., Kirschner, F., Erkens, G., Kirschner, P. A., & Paas, F. (2010) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-010-9131-x · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Mercer, N. (2013) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1080/00461520.2013.804394 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
The educational use of social annotation tools in higher education: A literature review
Novak, E., Razzouk, R., & Johnson, T. E. (2011) · The Internet and Higher Education · doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.09.002 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
Within-group synchronization in the prefrontal cortex associates with intergroup conflict
Yang, J., Zhang, H., Ni, J., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Ma, Y. (2020) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41593-020-0630-x · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Johnson, T. E., Archibald, T. N., & Tenenbaum, G. (2010) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.05.014 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Davis, M., Davis, K. J., & Dunagan, M. M. (2012) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-384727-0.00006-9 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Why does peer instruction benefit student learning?
Tullis, J. G., & Goldstone, R. L. (2020) · Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications · doi:10.1186/s41235-020-00218-5 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
An Experimental Study of Team Size and Performance on a Complex Task
Mao, A., Mason, W., Suri, S., & Watts, D. J. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0153048 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Hauer, K. E., ten Cate, O., Boscardin, C., Iobst, W. F., Holmboe, E. S., Chesluk, B. J., Baron, R. B., & O’Sullivan, P. (2016) · Journal of Graduate Medical Education · doi:10.4300/jgme-d-15-00144.1 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Group-based forecasting?: A social psychological analysis
Kerr, N. L., & Tindale, R. S. (2010) · International Journal of Forecasting · doi:10.1016/j.ijforecast.2010.02.001 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Converging Cognitive Enhancements
Sandberg, A., & Bostrom, N. (2006) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1196/annals.1382.015 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
To Group or Not to Group? Evidence from Mutual Fund Databases
Patel, S., & Sarkissian, S. (2017) · Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis · doi:10.1017/s0022109017000655 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
“Finally, in an experimental study, Laughlin et al. (2006) find that when dealing with highly intellective problems, 3-person groups are necessary and sufficient to perform better than the best individuals and that groups with more members do not add extra performance gains.”
Social processes and team creativity in multicultural teams: A socio‐technical framework
Leung, K. Y., & Wang, J. (2015) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2021 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Balijepally, V., Mahapatra, R., Nerur, S., & Price (2009) · MIS Quarterly · doi:10.2307/20650280 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Are two heads better than one for software development? the productivity paradox of pair programming
Balijepally, V., Mahapatra, R., Nerur, S., & Price, K. H. (2009) · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · doi:10.5555/2017410.2017418 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Chiu, M. M. (2008) · Contemporary Educational Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2008.05.001 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Comparing Ideation Techniques for Beginning Designers
Daly, S. R., Seifert, C. M., Yılmaz, S., & Gonzalez, R. (2016) · Journal of Mechanical Design · doi:10.1115/1.4034087 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Maciejovsky, B., & Budescu, D. V. (2007) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.854 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Sawyer, R. K., & Henriksen, D. (2023) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197747537.001.0001 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Advancing conceptualization and measurement of psychological capital as a collective construct
Dawkins, S., Martin, A. J., Scott, J. L., & Sanderson, K. A. (2015) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/0018726714549645 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Task complexity moderates group synergy
Almaatouq, A., Alsobay, M., Yin, M., & Watts, D. J. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2101062118 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Maciejovsky, B., Sutter, M., Budescu, D. V., & Bernau, P. (2013) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.1120.1668 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Beyond Idea Generation: The Power of Groups in Developing Ideas
McMahon, K., Ruggeri, A., Kämmer, J. E., & Katsikopoulos, K. V. (2016) · Creativity Research Journal · doi:10.1080/10400419.2016.1195637 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Reasoning as a Social Competence
Sperber, D., & Mercier, H. (2010) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511846427.016 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Malaysian Students' Scientific Argumentation: Do groups perform better than individuals?
Heng, L. L., Surif, J., & Seng, C. H. (2015) · International Journal of Science Education · doi:10.1080/09500693.2014.995147 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Voluntary activation and variability during maximal dynamic contractions with aging
Rozand, V., Senefeld, J. W., Hassanlouei, H., & Hunter, S. K. (2017) · European Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1007/s00421-017-3737-3 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Al-Azawei, A. (2019) · Journal of Information Technology Education Research · doi:10.28945/4360 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Collective choice, collaboration, and communication
Stasser, G., & Abele, S. (2020) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103211 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“Groups perform better than their best members on letters-to-numbers tasks (Laughlin et al. 2002, 2003b, 2006; Carey & Laughlin 2011).”
Individual versus collaborative problem solving: divergent outcomes depending on task complexity
Sears, D. A., & Reagin, J. M. (2013) · Instructional Science · doi:10.1007/s11251-013-9271-8 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Kausley, S. B., Malhotra, C. P., & Pandit, A. B. (2017) · Journal of Water Process Engineering · doi:10.1016/j.jwpe.2016.11.003 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Synergetic effects in working teams
Hertel, G. (2011) · Journal of Managerial Psychology · doi:10.1108/02683941111112622 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Collaborative Brain-Computer Interface for Aiding Decision-Making
Poli, R., Valeriani, D., & Cinel, C. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102693 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“Group decisions can be negatively affected by communication biases and group dynamics both in terms of the quality of the decisions and in terms of timing.”
BackgroundMajority rules: how good are we at aggregating convergent opinions?
Mercier, H., & Morin, O. (2019) · Evolutionary Human Sciences · doi:10.1017/ehs.2019.6 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Can Pair Learning Improve Students’ Troubleshooting Performance in Robotics Education?
Zhong, B., & Li, T. (2019) · Journal of Educational Computing Research · doi:10.1177/0735633119829191 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
“…learning, because a group has more effectively available processing capacity than an individual information processing system for tasks in which the relevant information needs to be shared among working memories for learning to commence (Kirschner et al., 2009; Laughlin, Hatch, Silver, & Boh, 2006).”
BackgroundA balance theory approach to group problem solving
Adejumo, G., Duimering, P. R., & Zhong, Z. (2007) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2007.09.001 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“Zander, Knievel, & Tan, 2003; Laughlin, Hatch, Silver & Boh, 2006 ).”
Kameda, T., Tsukasaki, T., Hastie, R., & Berg, N. (2010) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0020699 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Fok, R., & Weld, D. S. (2024) · AI Magazine · doi:10.1002/aaai.12182 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Fok, R., & Weld, D. S. (2023) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2305.07722 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
The Power of Diversity over Large Solution Spaces
LiCalzi, M., & Sürücü, O. (2012) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.1110.1495 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Agency and Identity in the Collective Self
Shteynberg, G., Hirsh, J. B., Garthoff, J., & Bentley, R. (2021) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/10888683211065921 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“Indeed, groups outperform even the best individual performances (Krause et al., 2010; Laughlin et al., 2006), suggesting that the superiority of group performance is due to group-level deliberation and pooling of cognitive resources.”
Yılmaz, S., Daly, S. R., Christian, J. L., Seifert, C. M., & Gonzalez, R. (2013) · International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation · doi:10.1080/21650349.2013.832016 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: Let us err on the side of cautionPreprint
van Rooij, A. J., Ferguson, C. J., Carras, M. C., Kardefelt‐Winther, D., Shi, J. C., & Przybylski, A. K. (2018) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/kc7r9 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Wu, M., Zhong, X., Peng, Q., Mei, X., Huang, S., Yuan, J., Ma, J., & Tan, T. (2019) · European Journal of Radiology · doi:10.1016/j.ejrad.2019.03.015 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Mangalaraj, G., Nerur, S., Mahapatra, R., & Price, K. H. (2014) · MIS Quarterly · doi:10.25300/misq/2014/38.1.12 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Who follows the crowd—Groups or individuals?
Fahr, R., & Irlenbusch, B. (2011) · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2011.03.007 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Sy, T., Choi, J. N., & Johnson, S. K. (2013) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.02.002 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Group-to-Individual Problem-Solving Transfer
Laughlin, P. R., Carey, H. R., & Kerr, N. L. (2008) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430208090645 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citationSommer, S. C., Bendoly, E., & Kavadias, S. (2019) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.2018.3247 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Tulin, M., Pollet, T. V., & Lehmann‐Willenbrock, N. (2018) · Social Science Research · doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.04.004 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Avoiding the Agreement Trap: Teams Facilitate Impasse in Negotiations with Negative Bargaining Zones
Cohen, T. R., Leonardelli, G. J., & Thompson, L. (2014) · Negotiation and Conflict Management Research · doi:10.1111/ncmr.12038 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Clément, R. J. G., Krause, S., von Engelhardt, N., Faria, J. J., Krause, J., & Kurvers, R. H. J. M. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077943 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“Also humans can make use of CC and CC has been shown to solve a number of different problems including predicting the results of elections [12,13] solving letters-to-numbers problems [14,15] and increasing speed and accuracy at reaching a target when navigating as a group [16].”
Autoethnography in action research for health education practitioners
Acosta, S. T., Goltz, H. H., & Goodson, P. (2015) · Action Research · doi:10.1177/1476750315573589 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Enhancement of Group Perception via a Collaborative Brain–Computer Interface
Valeriani, D., Poli, R., & Cinel, C. (2016) · IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering · doi:10.1109/tbme.2016.2598875 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Team innovation in retail services: the role of ambidextrous leadership and team learning
Duc, L. A., Tho, N. D., Nakandala, D., & Lan, Y.-C. (2020) · Service Business · doi:10.1007/s11628-020-00412-x · Cited by 43 · see citing works
LASAD: Flexible representations for computer-based collaborative argumentation
Loll, F., & Niels Pinkwart, C. (2012) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2012.04.002 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Managing the Development of Complex Product Systems: An Integrative Literature Review
Yassine, A. (2019) · IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management · doi:10.1109/tem.2019.2929660 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Larger group sizes facilitate the emergence and spread of innovations in a group-living bird
Ashton, B. J., Thornton, A., & Ridley, A. R. (2019) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.10.004 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
André, P., Kraut, R. E., & Kittur, A. (2014) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2556288.2557158 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“Adding members to work groups can offer a variety of process gains: additional workers can offer new knowledge, cognitive stimulation and error detection [11, 20, 23, 28, 29], although the extent of the benefits depends on the task and environment.”
BackgroundInfluentialMirkouei, A., Bhinge, R., McCoy, C., Haapala, K. R., & Dornfeld, D. A. (2016) · Procedia Manufacturing · doi:10.1016/j.promfg.2016.08.088 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Verbal labels facilitate tactile perception
Miller, T. M., Schmidt, T. T., Blankenburg, F., & Friedemann Pulvermüller, A. (2017) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2017.10.010 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Horowitz, M. C., Stewart, B., Tingley, D. H., Bishop, M., Samotin, L. R., Roberts, M. E., Chang, W., Mellers, B. A., & Tetlock, P. E. (2019) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/704437 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Teams have been shown to be more creative (Hoegl and Parboteeah 2007; Nijstad and De Dreu 2002), take better risks (Rockenbach, Sadrieh, and Mathauschek 2007), and succeed at solving complex problems (Laughlin et al. 2006).”
BackgroundIs three a crowd? Examining rapport in investigative interviews.
Driskell, T., Blickensderfer, B., & Eduardo Salas, A. (2012) · Group Dynamics Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1037/a0029686 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Modeling Team-level Multimodal Dynamics during Multiparty Collaboration
Eloy, L., Stewart, A., Amon, M. J., Reinhardt, C., Michaels, A., Sun, C., Shute, V. J., Duran, N. D., & D’Mello, S. K. (2019) · INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MULTIMODAL INTERACTION · doi:10.1145/3340555.3353748 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“With respect to the first, prior work has investigated how team composition (e.g., group size [55, 56], ability/motivation cohesiveness [27, 37, 52]) and features of the task (e.g., problem structure [54, 81]) predict team performance.”
BackgroundThe Power of Social Influence on Estimation Accuracy
Gürçay, B., Mellers, B. A., & Baron, J. A. (2014) · Journal of Behavioral Decision Making · doi:10.1002/bdm.1843 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Group size and the trust, cohesion, and commitment of group members
Soboroff, S. D. (2012) · doi:10.17077/etd.0mzaq9pd · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Model of human collective decision-making in complex environments
Carbone, G., & Giannoccaro, I. (2015) · The European Physical Journal B · doi:10.1140/epjb/e2015-60609-0 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Individual Versus Group Argumentation: Student’s Performance in a Malaysian Context
Heng, L. L., Surif, J., & Seng, C. H. (2014) · International Education Studies · doi:10.5539/ies.v7n7p109 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Decisions from experience: How groups and individuals adapt to change
Lejarraga, T., Lejarraga, J., & González, C. (2014) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-014-0445-7 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Improving information evaluation for intelligence production
Irwin, D., & Mandel, D. R. (2019) · Intelligence & National Security · doi:10.1080/02684527.2019.1569343 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Group benefits in joint perceptual tasks—a review
Wahn, B., Kingstone, A. F., & Peter König, B. (2018) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/nyas.13843 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Markets as a structural solution to knowledge-sharing dilemmas
Maciejovsky, B., & Budescu, D. V. (2012) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.04.005 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Olmstead, A. R., Beach, A. L., & Henderson, C. (2019) · International Journal of STEM Education · doi:10.1186/s40594-019-0173-4 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Tho, N. D., & Duc, L. A. (2020) · Journal of Knowledge Management · doi:10.1108/jkm-06-2020-0475 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Darzi, A., & Novak, D. (2021) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2021.102673 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Individual versus group choices of repeated game strategies: A strategy method approach
Cason, T. N., & Mui, V. (2019) · Games and Economic Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.geb.2019.01.003 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Design and evaluation of a clinical competency committee
Duitsman, M. E., Fluit, C. R. M. G., van der Velden, J. A. E. M., de Visser, M., ten Kate-Booij, M., Dolmans, D. H. J. M., Jaarsma, D. A. D. C., & Graaf, J. D. (2019) · Perspectives on Medical Education · doi:10.1007/s40037-018-0490-1 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Corrégé, J.-B., & Michinov, N. (2021) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2021.733663 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Njuki, J., Melesse, M., Sinha, C., Seward, R. K., Renaud, M. C., Sutton, S., Nijhawan, T., Clancy, K., Thioune, R. M., & Charron, D. F. (2022) · Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d études du développement · doi:10.1080/02255189.2022.2099356 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Team Players: How Social Skills Improve Group Performance
Weidmann, B., & Deming, D. J. (2020) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w27071 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Bonner, B. L., & Bolinger, A. R. (2013) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.07.005 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Overcoming Collaborative Inhibition through Error Correction: A Classroom Experiment
Gadgil, S., & Nokes-Malach, T. J. (2012) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.1843 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Innovation in legal services: The practices that influence ideation and codification activities
Bourke, J., Roper, S., & Love, J. H. (2019) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.057 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“This is in line with organisational behaviour research which reports that groups use fewer trials in finding a solution than the best of an equivalent number of individuals do, and groups generally perform better than the best individuals on highly demanding and complex problems (Laughlin, Bonner and Miner, 2002; Laug…”
Understanding the antecedents of emergency response: a proposed framework
Subramaniam, C., Ali, H., & Shamsudin, F. M. (2010) · Disaster Prevention and Management An International Journal · doi:10.1108/09653561011091904 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Methods of Small Group Research
Kerr, N. L., & Tindale, R. S. (2014) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511996481.013 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Laughlin, P. R., Hatch, E. C., Silver, J. S., & Boh, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2006
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 644-651
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2125970110
- Cited by
- 390
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 13.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Team Dynamics and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- group problem solving, group size, hypothesis testing, feedback, group versus individual performance
- MeSH terms
- Analysis of Variance, Cooperative Behavior, Group Processes, Humans, Illinois, Problem Solving
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
