That’s because, Yates explains, in a large and highly engaged group, lots of small, independent influences average out, so the overarching direction is hard to budge. But if many individuals become neutral, even just for a moment, the group of decision-makers shrinks.
“With fewer active votes in play, the same small nudge – a brief local cluster moving the other way, a noisy bit of information, a couple of people switching allegiance – produces a larger proportional effect on the group’s direction,” says Yates.
Ultimately, locusts teach us that neutrality can create the necessary pause for everybody to reassess and reach a consensus, says Yates. The takeaway? If you want to overturn the status quo, don’t worry about the indecisive – encourage more people to be so.
Cockroaches with personality
It’s especially hard to reach group conclusions when there are a lot of strong personalities in the debate. Many people with “main character energy” can steer the debate their way, trumping the collective.
But a study with cockroaches suggests that strong individual personalities among a group can actually speed up decision-making.
If personality matters in these small animals, we can imagine the impact it can have on animals living in societies with additional layers of social complexity – Isaac Planas-Sitjà
Some cockroaches are bold, while others are timid. So Isaac Planas-Sitjà, assistant professor at the Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan, ran computer simulations of how cockroaches aggregate – one that mimics, for instance, how they hide in a specific dark corner behind a fridge. He tweaked the system to include no personality differences, some personality differences and, finally, a lot of personality differences.
It turns out that the models where every cockroach behaved exactly the same couldn’t even get close to what cockroach decision-making is like in the real world. Groups with a lot of personality variation, on the other hand, made collective decisions faster – because they had more social interactions.
“I was very surprised. I expected to see some trend, but not such a clear and repeatable pattern,” says Planas-Sitjà.
It means that cockroach groups with only bold or explorer individuals will find it more difficult to aggregate and choose a suitable shelter because they move too much, he says. And while groups with too many shy individuals may settle fast, they risk choosing a poor shelter.
“It is the fine-tuning between the degree of cooperation and behavioural diversity that ultimately drives collective intelligence,” says Planas-Sitjà. “If personality matters in these small animals, we can imagine the impact it can have on animals living in societies with additional layers of social complexity.”
Reflective flies
Sometimes we mute our gut feelings to make decisions we think are logical, even if they feel wrong on a visceral level. Other times, we follow our deep convictions about something without learning from our mistakes.
Fruit flies, it turns out, could teach us a lot about being more self-aware in our deliberations.
Research shows fruit flies are extremely perceptive in how they integrate external and internal information to shape their every move. When choosing between two odours, for example, the more similar the scents, the longer the flies hesitate, as if they’re tallying the pros and cons.
When faced with a nice-tasting but unnutritious reward, or a bitter-tasting but nutritious sugary substance, flies can compute the net value of that choice and white-knuckle through the unpleasant-tasting food in return for nutrition.
