Reimer,T.
Hoffrage,U.

The notion of ecological rationality implies that the accu- racy of a decision strategy depends on features of the information envi- ronment in which it is tested. We demonstrate that the performance of a group may be strongly affected by the decision strategies used by its indi- vidual members and specify how this effect is moderated by environmen- tal features. Specifically, in a set of simulation studies, we systematically compared four decision strategies used by the individual group mem- bers: two linear, compensatory decision strategies and two simple, non- compensatory heuristics. Individual decisions were aggregated by using a majority rule. To assess the ecological rationality of the strategies, we varied (a) the distribution of cue validities, (b) the quantity, and (c) the quality of shared information. Group performance strongly depended on the distribution of cue validities. When validities were linearly distrib- uted, groups using a compensatory strategy achieved the highest accu- racy. Conversely, when cue validities followed a J-shaped distribution, groups using a simple lexicographic heuristic performed best. While these effects were robust across different quantities of shared information, the quality of shared information exerted stronger effects on group perfor- mance. Consequences for prescriptive theories on group decision making are discussed.

Reimer, T., & Hoffrage, U. (2006). The ecological rationality of simple group heuristics: Effects of group member strategies on decision accuracy. Theory and Decision, 60, 403-438. (Full text)

Publication year	2006
Document type:	Article
Publication status:	Published
External URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11238-005-4750-2 View
Categories:	Ecological RationalityEnvironment Structure
Keywords:	compensatory and noncompensatory decision strategiesgroup decision makinggroup performancesimple heuristics