Two heads better than one in decision making

LONDON - We seem to make better decisions when we listen to others rather than doing it alone. Pooling wisdom with a partner produces better results, but only when both parties are of similar ability, a new research states.

A team asked pairs of volunteers to pinpoint when a very faint image appeared on a screen. If they disagreed, they talked it through, the Daily Mail said.

The results showed joint decisions were indeed better than ones made by the stronger individual, according to the journal Science.

Conversely, a second test showed that an incompetent partner wrecked the decision.

Pairs were assigned the same task but one of the participants was surreptitiously made incompetent by being shown a hazy image.

In this case, the joint decisions were worse than the decision of the stronger of the pair. They would have been better off if the incompetent partner had been ignored.

Professor Chris Frith of the University College London said: “When two people working together can discuss their disagreements, two heads can be better than one.”

“But, when one person is working with flawed information - or perhaps is less able at their job - then this can have a very negative effect on the outcome.”