Evidence for a collective intelligence factor in the performance of human groups
Woolley and colleagues asked whether groups show a shared underlying performance factor, similar to general intelligence in individuals. In two studies of people working in groups of two to five, they found a general collective intelligence factor, which they called the c factor, that accounted for group performance across many different tasks. The factor was only weakly related to the average or highest intelligence of the individual members. It was more closely associated with members' average social sensitivity, with how evenly conversational turns were shared, and with the proportion of women in the group.
Woolley and colleagues asked whether groups show a shared underlying performance factor, similar to general intelligence in individuals. In two studies of people working in groups of two to five, they found a general collective intelligence factor, which they called the c factor, that accounted for group performance across many different tasks. The factor was only weakly related to the average or highest intelligence of the individual members. It was more closely associated with members' average social sensitivity, with how evenly conversational turns were shared, and with the proportion of women in the group.
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Woolley, A. W., Chabris, C. F., Pentland, A., Hashmi, N., & Malone, T. W. (2010). Evidence for a collective intelligence factor in the performance of human groups. Science, 330(6004), 686-688. doi:10.1126/science.1193147