Collective Stupidity Unmasked: How To Navigate Group Dynamics - An illustration showing four stick figures sitting on a tree branch. The fourth stick figure from the right says, "Stick together folks, we are going to make it!" The stick figure on its left is nearest to the tree trunk and is sawing off the branch that they are all sitting on. If this keeps up, they will all fall down.

In my essay on emergent behaviour, I talked about a mesmerising flock of birds moving gracefully in unison (murmuration) as a prime example of emergent behaviour.

The Mind-Blowing World of Emergent Behaviour — The murmuration of a flock of birds with an overcast sky in the background. The flock appears to move so much in unison, that it appears to be an organism on its own.
The “Murmuration” of a flock of birds — Image courtesy of WikiCC.

I went on to ponder whether this phenomenon could lie at the root of what we consider “conscience”.

While that essay showcased this mysterious phenomenon in a rather positive light, there is also a dark side to it.

Just like how birds move in unison in murmuration, groups of ants sometimes engage in a death spiral, known as an ant mill.

Collective Stupidity Unmasked: How To Navigate Group Dynamics — A GIF image from Wikipedia that shows a group of ants going in circles.
The ant mill (death spiral) — Images courtesy of WikiCC

This phenomenon typically occurs in army ants, where a sub-group separated from the main colony starts going in circles. The ant mill sometimes runs continuously until the ants die of exhaustion!

Each ant follows the ant in front of it, trusting the typical colonial self-organisation. In essence, the same emergent behaviour that typically helps the group survive sometimes leads to collective stupidity and death.

You could think that this behaviour is understandable in ants. But researchers have also observed collective stupidity in several other species, including our own.

Picture a group of highly intelligent individuals getting together and making a decision so bafflingly poor, it leaves everyone scratching their heads. Welcome to the perplexing world of collective stupidity!

In this essay, I will begin with a brief refresher on emergent behaviour. Following this, I will explore the sunnier side of things with collective intelligence, before diving into the puzzling realm of collective stupidity.

As I did in the previous essay on this topic, I will aim to keep things simple and humorous. At the end of the essay, we will hopefully be one step closer to avoiding collective facepalms. Let us begin.

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A Brief Refresher on Emergent Behaviour

As a quick recap, emergent behaviour is a phenomenon that occurs in complex adaptive systems. In such systems, simple components interact in such a way that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

As we have already seen, examples of such systems could be birds flocking, ant colonies, or even city traffic.

This fascinating phenomenon showcases nature’s ability to self-organise, leading to unexpected outcomes from seemingly unrelated actions.

Now that we have set the stage with emergent behaviour, let us discuss a positive manifestation of this phenomenon.

The Bright Side — Collective Intelligence

Collective intelligence refers to the ability of the members of a group to pool their individual skills, knowledge, and expertise to solve problems more effectively than any single member could alone.

The old adage “two heads are better than one” captures the essence of collective intelligence. A classic example of collective intelligence is the “wisdom of the crowd” effect.

When I was a child, a famous TV game show went by the name of “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” Mind you, this was from a time when a million was big money; I know, inflation has done a real number on us (get it?).

Bad jokes aside, participants of this game had special options available to them to tackle difficult questions. One of these was to ask the studio audience to vote on what each of them thought was the correct answer.

Back then, I was truly astonished to see how the crowd (collectively) almost always got it right. In hindsight, this turn of events was an example of collective intelligence in play.

Over the years, scientists have conducted studies that demonstrate this quite clearly. It typically plays out similar to this scenario:

Imagine that you are at a county fair, and there is a jar full of jelly beans. The goal is to guess the number of jelly beans in the jar.

Individually, people’s guesses may be wildly off, but when you average all the guesses, the result often comes remarkably close to the true number. The errors tend to cancel each other out.

As far as the group is concerned, it is as if the crowd collectively possesses an intelligence greater than any single member.

Now that we have enjoyed discussing the positive side of emergent behaviour, it is now time to face the dark side as well.

The Dark Side — Collective Stupidity

How is it possible that a group of smart individuals can sometimes make decisions so perplexing, it feels like the intelligence just evaporated?

Collective stupidity arises when the interactions between individuals in a group lead to outcomes that are less intelligent, less rational, and/or less effective than the decisions made by any single member.

In other words, it is the opposite of collective intelligence. It is like a “folly of the crowd” effect. But how does collective stupidity happen? In my research, I have noted the following reasons down as some of the prime culprits:

Group-think

This psychological phenomenon occurs when a group’s desire for harmony and consensus trumps critical thinking and rational decision-making.

The result? A stifling of disagreeing opinions, a blindness to potential risks, and decisions that can range from mildly foolish to downright disastrous.

Information cascades

Have you ever played the game “follow the leader”? Information cascades are a bit like that, but with a twist: people abandon their own information or judgement, opting to follow the decisions of others.

This can lead to a domino effect of poor choices, as individuals blindly follow the crowd without questioning the underlying rationale (think ant mills).

Social loafing

As a child, I read a tale in which a neighbourhood decides to collect milk for donation. Every family is supposed to pour some milk into a big tub overnight, and the tub is to be donated in the morning.

Come morning, all that is left is a tub full of crystal clear water. The thought process behind social loafing is: “I don’t need to contribute; someone else will handle it.” The result is a collective underperformance, as everyone assumes someone else will pick up the slack.

In an ideal world, we would obviously wish to avoid such situations and their cousins. How can we do that?

Escaping the Clutches of Collective Stupidity

I am not here to tell you that I envision a future where collective stupidity does not exist at all. But at the same time, we could at least try to minimise its chances.

Here are some strategies for avoiding pitfalls that lead to group facepalm moments:

Encourage diversity: The more diverse a group, the lesser the chances of groupthink. Sure, it leads to conflicts as well. But goal-oriented conflicts are much better than groupthink behaviour.

Foster disagreement: Let’s be honest; disagreements are awkward and uncomfortable. However, by creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable voicing their opinions and challenging the status quo, we can pave the way for more informed, rational decision-making.

Don’t be THAT ant in the ant mill: It is always tempting to just go with the flow and follow the crowd. But before you jump on the bandwagon, take a moment to critically evaluate the situation and trust your own judgement.

Assign responsibility: In any group, clearly assigning responsibility not only ensures that everyone knows their role but also creates a sense of accountability, reducing the chances of people slacking off (no room for social-loafing).

Conclusion

Collective stupidity can be perplexing and is often harmless. But on occasion, it can lead to very dangerous situations. In other words, we are better off by not underestimating the effects of this phenomenon.

By understanding its causes and taking proactive steps to avoid it, we can harness the power of collective intelligence and work together more effectively.

Collective Stupidity Unmasked: How To Navigate Group Dynamics — An illustration showing the same four stick figures sitting on a tree branch. But this time, the left-most stick figure who is sawing off the branch says, “Folks, maybe we should rethink this!” Perhaps, there is hope for them after all!
Collective stupidity — Illustrative art created by the author

After writing so much about collective stupidity and emergent behaviour, I have to disappoint you by revealing that I am not an expert on these topics. I have done my best to present my research on them.

I am sure that I have missed crucial factors or points. Do you have unique knowledge on these topics from your experiences to share? If so, please do share them in the comments section — this can be our very own version of collective brilliance!

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