Information sampling and group decision making: The effects of an advocacy decision procedure and task experience.

Group discussions tend to focus on information that was previously known by all members (shared information) rather than information known by only 1 member (unshared information). If the shared information implies a suboptimal alternative, this sampling bias is associated with inaccurate group decisions. The present study examines the impact of 2 factors on information exchange and decision quality: (a) an advocacy group decision procedure versus unstructured discussion and (b) task experience. Results show that advocacy groups discussed both more shared and unshared information than freediscussion groups. Further, with increasing experience, more unshared information was mentioned in advocacy groups. In contrast, there was no such increase in unstructured discussions. Yet advocacy groups did not significantly improve their decision quality with experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accession Number: 20066619; Greitemeyer, Tobias 1; Email Address: togre@psy.unimuenchen.de; Brodbeck, Felix C. 2; Schulz-Hardt, Stefan 3; Email Address: schulz-hardt@psych.uni-goettingen.de; Frey, Dieter 1; Affiliations: 1: Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich; 2: Aston University; 3: Georg-August-University; Issue Info: Mar2006, Vol. 12 Issue 1, p31; Thesaurus Term: Information resources; Thesaurus Term: Decision making; Thesaurus Term: Information science; Subject Term: Discussion; Subject Term: Conversation; Author-Supplied Keyword: dialectical techniques; Author-Supplied Keyword: group decision making; Author-Supplied Keyword: hidden profile; Author-Supplied Keyword: information sampling; Number of Pages: 12p; Document Type: Article