Does consultation improve decision-making?

This paper reports an experiment designed to test whether prior consultation within a group affects subsequent individual decision-making in tasks where demonstrability of correct solutions is low. In our experiment, subjects considered two paintings created by two different artists and were asked t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Isopi, Alessia, Nosenzo, Daniele, Starmer, Chris
Format: Article
Published: Springer 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29780/
_version_ 1848793851685240832
author Isopi, Alessia
Nosenzo, Daniele
Starmer, Chris
author_facet Isopi, Alessia
Nosenzo, Daniele
Starmer, Chris
author_sort Isopi, Alessia
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper reports an experiment designed to test whether prior consultation within a group affects subsequent individual decision-making in tasks where demonstrability of correct solutions is low. In our experiment, subjects considered two paintings created by two different artists and were asked to guess which artist made each painting. We observed answers given by individuals under two treatments: In one, subjects were allowed the opportunity to consult with other participants before making their private decisions; in the other, there was no such opportunity. Our primary findings are that subjects in the first treatment evaluate the opportunity to consult positively, but they perform significantly worse and earn significantly less.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:06:52Z
format Article
id nottingham-29780
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:06:52Z
publishDate 2014
publisher Springer
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-297802020-05-04T16:49:15Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29780/ Does consultation improve decision-making? Isopi, Alessia Nosenzo, Daniele Starmer, Chris This paper reports an experiment designed to test whether prior consultation within a group affects subsequent individual decision-making in tasks where demonstrability of correct solutions is low. In our experiment, subjects considered two paintings created by two different artists and were asked to guess which artist made each painting. We observed answers given by individuals under two treatments: In one, subjects were allowed the opportunity to consult with other participants before making their private decisions; in the other, there was no such opportunity. Our primary findings are that subjects in the first treatment evaluate the opportunity to consult positively, but they perform significantly worse and earn significantly less. Springer 2014-06-20 Article PeerReviewed Isopi, Alessia, Nosenzo, Daniele and Starmer, Chris (2014) Does consultation improve decision-making? Theory and Decision, 77 (3). pp. 377-388. ISSN 0040-5833 Consultation decision making group decisions individual decisions http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11238-014-9449-9/fulltext.html doi:10.1007/s11238-014-9449-9 doi:10.1007/s11238-014-9449-9
spellingShingle Consultation
decision making
group decisions
individual decisions
Isopi, Alessia
Nosenzo, Daniele
Starmer, Chris
Does consultation improve decision-making?
title Does consultation improve decision-making?
title_full Does consultation improve decision-making?
title_fullStr Does consultation improve decision-making?
title_full_unstemmed Does consultation improve decision-making?
title_short Does consultation improve decision-making?
title_sort does consultation improve decision-making?
topic Consultation
decision making
group decisions
individual decisions
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29780/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29780/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29780/