Winter Mason Howe School of Technology Management Stevens Institute of Technology m@winteram.com

Group Identity, Culture, and �Collective Intelligence

Social Learning is Fundamental •  Human capacity for social

learning is innate and unique (Meltzoff & Moore, 1983; Tomasello, 1999)

•  Social learning drives technological progress and culture •  (Boyd and Richerson,

1995; Axelrod, 1997)

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Social Learning and Innovations •  Technological innovations

spread through the process of social learning (Ryan & Gross, 1943; Bass, 1969; Rogers, 1995)

•  Social learning of innovations can benefit individuals and groups (March, 1991; Rendell, et al., 2010; Mason & Watts, 2012)

•  (although there may also be a social dilemma)

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Peak Foundby Any Player

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CollectiveCollectiveIndependent

Social Learning and Culture " Social conventions spread through social learning " (Kooti, et al., 2012) – spread of conventions in Twitter

" Social norms spread through social learning " (Fowler & Christakis, 2007) – spread of cooperative behavior " (Bettenhausen & Murnighan, 1985) – norms in work groups

" Language, beliefs spread through social learning " (Nowak & Krakauer, 1999) " (Wilkes-Gibbs & Clark, 1992)

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Social Learning and Culture

" Culture could not exist without social learning BUT

" Social learning is not sufficient to explain culture

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A thought experiment

Imagine a world in which humans had the capacity to imitate, but did not have the need to belong to a group.

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Explanations for Cultural Differentiation " Axelrod (1997) posits that local convergence can lead to global

polarization " Nowak & Latané suggest a preference for extreme views can lead to

polarization

But this does not explain why individuals seek to enhance differentiation " Baumeister and Leary (1995) argue the need for affiliation arose from the

advantages of being in a group (safety, resource sharing, etc.) " Mullin and Hogg (1999) argue group identification helps reduce uncertainty

through social proof

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Social Identity and Social Learning

Social identity sets boundaries for collective intelligence and collective action, and consequently sets boundaries for social

learning, which leads to cultural differentiation.

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Social Identity is Fundamental •  Sedikides and Skowronski

(1997) propose the self concept emerged from social processes

•  Baumeister & Leary (1995) identify the need to belong as a fundamental human need

•  Turner and colleagues (1987) suggested that social identity is a redefinition or shifted perception of the self

•  Our social identity / identities affect the way we perceive the world and our reactions to it. 9

Social Identity and Social Norms •  Social norms are bounded

by the groups with which individuals identify (Cialdini & Trost, 1998)

•  Enforcement and modeling of social norms is focused on in-group members (Terry & Hogg)

•  And is especially prominent with prototypical group members (Hogg & Reid)

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Social Identity and Public Goods " The management of public goods depends on a closed group who can be

trusted

“If a group of users can determine its own membership—including those who agree to use the resource according to their agreed-upon rules and excluding those who do not agree to these rules—the group has made an important first step toward the development of greater trust and reciprocity”

- Elinor Ostrom " People contribute more to in-group members in public-goods dilemmas,

even when group membership is arbitrary (Tajfel, et al, 1971) " Social identity fosters greater trust and reciprocity

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Social Identity and Collective Intelligence " Collectively processing information from the environment benefits from a

shared mental model (Liang, Moreland, & Argote, 1995; Weber & Camerer, 2003)

" Efficient transmission of useful information is facilitated when there is common ground; that is, when common and private knowledge is common knowledge (Thompson & Fine, 1999)

" Belief systems and mental models of the environment are shared between group members " At least in the domain of knowledge expected of group members

" Social identity indicates a shared mental model

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Social Identity and Collective Action " Coordinated, collective action requires a shared mental model and

common goals (Hutchins)

" Common group identity sets the boundaries for collective action; who is participating, who is not. " Part of the fun of flash mobs is that it is coordinated, collective action without

obvious group identity " Imagine playing a basketball game where one of the opponents wore your

team’s uniform

" Social identity indicates common goals

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Signaling Social Identity •  The usefulness of identifying

with a group comes from the visible signals

•  The most visible signals are the first used to identify the group membership of an individual

•  Signals of group identity are also a part of the group identity; when those signals are “poached”, the signals change •  This is one explanation for fads

and fashions

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Social Identity and Diffusion of Information " The boundaries indicated by social identity also place limits on the

diffusion of information

" Information that flows over weak ties tends to be more novel (Granovetter; Van Alstyne & Aral)

" Individuals who bridge communities can benefit because they are in a brokering position (Burt)

" People may tend not to share information outside of the group because the relevance to outgroup members may be unknown or assumed to be low.

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The Downside •  Individuals who do not share

common social identity •  Are less likely to have a shared

mental model •  May not have common goals •  May not follow the same rules for

sharing public goods

•  At best, this leads to uncertainty •  At worst, it leads to war

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Summary The psychological mechanisms behind

" Need to belong / Need for affiliation " Group identification " Identity signaling " In-group favoritism / out-group derogation

exist to create boundaries that facilitate collective intelligence and collective action by signaling

" established trust " social norms " shared mental models " common goals

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Limitations " This does not apply to types of collective intelligence that do not involve

direct interaction between members of the collective " Stygmergic interactions, e.g., ants or Google

" Social identity is less relevant if trust, a shared mental model and common goals can be assumed without knowing the social identity of the individual

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Implications for Social Identity " The strength of social identification will be directly related to the extent to

which an individual shares the group’s mental models and goals

" The efficacy of task groups may depend on the coherence in mental models and goals amongst group members

" The optimal size of a group may be related to:

" The strength of the group identity " The volatility of the environment, and therefore, the required frequency to

update the shared mental model

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Implications for Collective Intelligence " Groups organizing for a common goal may benefit from enhancing the

common group identity and the visibility of the group identity to group members

" Research on information diffusion should pay attention to how strongly individuals identify with different groups. This likely affects: " What communication channels are available " How information will flow through those channels

" Schisms in groups may be better predicted by inefficiencies in collective action or cognition than by internal conflict (although the two are likely correlated). " The nature of the split would be where the shared mental models or common

goals differ.

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Winter Mason, Ph.D. ���Howe School of Technology Management���Stevens Institute of Technology���Castle Point on the Hudson���Hoboken, NJ 07030 Phone: +1 (201) 216-3321���E-mail: m@winteram.com Web: http://smallsocialsystems.com

Thank You - Questions?